Junsuina Ai
by Peter0Pan
Summary: AU:Kagome is the princess of the eastern lands. One winter day, Kagome finds a strange and wounded young man in the forest. Who is he? What is he? And what happened to him? Unfortunately, Kagome can't get any info from him. THIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC!
1. Introductions

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the series or characters in it. I am not an old japanese woman, okay? Do I seem like one? And If I was Rumiko Takahashi, would my name start with a K? Would I have a picture of Kagome and Sesshomaru for my profile picture rather than just make the series about them?

This story was inspired by the song Tenshi by Kokia, and the song Everytime You Kissed Me by Emily Brindger. And I am sorry if Sesshomaru may seem OOC, that's the point, and I'm going to make him younger and he doesn't have a past on earth and he also doesn't have an annoying little half brother.

Another thing; **this is my first fanfic**, so no flames please, 'kay? I don't believe I'm expected to do it perfectly like other writers. And I know I'm not a perfect writer, or good at ideas, and I accept that. **SO NO NEED FOR FLAMES!**

_I am dedicating this chapter__ to three of my best friends: Eri, Grace, and Angelina; You three are awesome, so awesome that I'm dedicating my first fanfic chapter ever to you! - Your friend, Katherine_

Now, onto the story!

* * *

It was the beginning of winter. The flowers that she loved would die, many animals would go into hibernation. All that. As much as it was sad that the flowers wouldn't come back until the springtime, Kagome loved the winter. She loved being in cold weather and just getting nice and warm by a cozy fireplace with a cup of hot tea, maybe even with a fairy tale book.

She was the princess of the eastern lands, and she had an older sister named Kikyo, a younger sister named Rin, and a younger brother name Souta.

Kikyo was eighteen and had long straight black hair that seemed to be somewhat purple in the sunlight. She had dark brown eyes, somewhat narrow. She was training on becoming a priestess, she was quite good already. Though, she didn't seem to have many suitors, even being the oldest, mainly because she was such a boring person, and mean. And Kagome tried to get along with her older sister, she really did, but Kikyo could be such a bitch sometimes.

Kagome was seventeen and had curly black hair, it wasn't as long as Kikyo's, but it was alot thicker which was an annoyance on summer days. Her eyes were sort of a pale-ish brown that seemed to have a bit of gray in them, they were interesting. Her eyes were quite large too, bigger than most people's, EXCEPT Jakken and Old Totosai, though that was no big deal really. She was pretty surprised that she had many suitors: Hojo, prince of the south; Koga, youkai prince of the east mountains; and Inuyasha, youkai prince of the west. Though, she only seemed to have eyes for Inuyasha.

Souta was ten and had short black hair and the same type of eyes that Kikyo had. Though Kagome loved him, he could seriously annoy her.

Rin was eight and had thick wavy black hair that fell past her waist. She always wore a sort of lop-sided ponytail and had big bright cinnamon brown eyes. Rin was always so very cheery, she also looked very much like Kagome, almost like a mini-version.

Of course, Kagome wouldn't always spend her days in the palace like Kikyo would. She would visit her town friends, Sango and Miroku. Sango was the blacksmith's daughter and was pretty muscular. She had straight black hair, the same shade as Rin's, and always kept it in a high ponytail. Miroku was a local houshi's son. Kagome could tell that the two were in love, while Miroku hadn't seemed to fear admitting it, Sango always seemed a little too proud. Plus, Miroku was constantly womanizing, which made Sango red with jealousy and anger. Proof of her huge crush on the handsome houshi. They'd make a cute couple.

Then there was Inuyasha. As mentioned above, was the prince of the west. He had long waist-length silver hair and adorable white fluffy dog ears atop his head. His eyes were a dark gold like amber. Kagome was quite obviously attracted to him, though she wasn't sure if he felt the same. They were pretty recent friends, Kagome had met him on her fifteenth birthday. And at first, she didn't like him much because of his rather rude attitude, but slowly, they became good friends. Now his father, Taisho, wanted him to marry Kagome so the east and west could form a strong alliance.

Her other suitors were Hojo and Koga. Koga had already started claiming her as 'his woman', though Kagome felt nothing but friendship for the wolf prince. Plus, another wolf youkai named Ayame happened to be madly in love with Koga and was constantly chasing him down. Hojo was sweet and always brought her presents, but he was kinda stalker-like.

The memories of her friends brought a peaceful smile to her lips as she sipped her peppermint tea. She was currently sitting by a fireplace. It was really quite early in the morning. On some winter mornings, Kagome woke up earlier than even some of the servants woke up and even earlier than the sun. It was beautiful to watch the sun rise in the morning, seeing the bright pink, orange, and yellow colors explode in the winter sky.

Of course, she was always really tired in the end, but it was a beautiful sight and she was allowed to take naps if she felt like it, she was a princess after all.

Kagome was planning on going on her early morning walk soon. She'd probably be the first human to really look at it and see it rise on this cold day.

After she had finished her tea, she got up and walked out of the quiet palace after putting on a dark fur coat to keep her nice and warm.

There was a soft blue glow that only came around sunsets and sunrises. It made the snow sparkle blue beautifully.

That was when she felt something strange hitting her senses. Kagome had never been trained as a priestess even though she had the powers to, mainly because she didn't want to seem like a Kikyo copy-cat and she was just a little...lazy...as some people said. She couldn't deny it, but that didn't mean that she liked being called that. She mainly spent her time in her room, reading books and writing little poems and stuff like that. But even she knew what a demonic aura felt like.

Kagome turned on her heel and looked into the forest. It sometimes scared her to go into it too early in the morning or too late in the day or night. Who knew what kind of monster or demon could be there? But a gut feeling told her to just go and see. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Who knows? Maybe some innocent human could be getting themselves eaten. Maybe they'd die just because she couldn't be there to help. Not that a little rather defenseless girl could be much of a help, but...

Kagome just forced herself to move into the woods and follow the aura...But there was something else. Not like a demonic aura, but similar to a holy aura. But purer almost...That strengthened her curiosity. She was no longer forcing herself to move and just ran as fast as she could.

* * *

When Kagome had arrived to where she knew she felt the aura, she was surprised to see someone laying face-first in the snow. The snow was stained with red.

_'Blood'_ Kagome's mind registered, she ran over to the person.

"Hello?" She asked softly "Are you okay?"

No response.

_'Of course not, idiot'_ She thought to herself _'They're laying in blood on the ground, not trying to get up. What does that tell you?'_

Kagome frowned, catching herself insulting herself. Odd...But nevermind...

She knelt down by the persons side and noticed that there were huge scars on their back, through their clothing. It was two deep scars, thinly shaped like an ovals, both alongside each other on the person's higher back, right under their shoulders.

"Oh my god..." Kagome mumbled. She turned them over slightly to look at the person's face, she was too concerned about the scars to notice their appearance earlier.

The person had long silvery blue hair that fell to his waist, long bangs that parted to reveal a blue crescent moon mark, and there were two red stripes across each of his cheeks. The same red topped his eyelids...he also had pointy ears and his skin was pale white. And he was dressed fully in white.

Kagome's gaze fell to his lips. He had blood dripping from his lower lip. There were scratches on his arms that tore through his white clothing.

Even with all the blood, he still was a really handsome young man. He seemed around the same age as she was. Only seventeen or eighteen.

Her gaze moved up to his forehead. What did that mark mean? She pushed the thought away from her head. She needed to get him help! She needed to heal him! It didn't matter that he was a complete stranger! Really, it didn't. All that mattered was this person needed her help, and she'd give it to him.

_'I wonder who or what did this to him...the poor guy...'_

She lifted his arm over her shoulder and tried to move him that way_,_ but since he was unconscious, it didn't seem to work very well. With a sigh, she pulled him onto her back. She had once did this with Kikyo when Kikyo had apparently got trapped in a priestess eating cave and was just too tired to walk on her own. Of course, she had been tempted to give up, but knew it was terrible to let your own sister die.

So here she was now, carrying a handsome total stranger on her back as she walked all the way back to the castle. He wasn't really all that heavy, quite light really. Kagome decided to hum a soft tune on her way back, singing the words softly under her breath;

"_Koboreochita no wa Tenshi shirushi na no yo, Kakegae no nai mono wa nani wakatteiru no ni, Kotoba ni naranai omoi ga kao tsutau yo_, _Ima wa tada yorisoi atte tashikameteitai_, _Kotoba ni naranai omoi ga kao tsutau yo"_

She didn't even notice the white feathers that were laying in the snow, covered in the deep red blood.

* * *

**_That's all for now! I'm writing the second chapter as we speak so I don't get behind. After all, I have a lot of homework to do. _**

**_By the way, the song Kagome is singing at the end is Tenshi by Kokia (I obviously don't own it since I'm not Kokia), I thought it would be interesting if I made the song appear at least once in this story. _**

**_The translation for the above lyrics are: "The mark of the Angel is what's scattered around; What is truly priceless in life? I already know what is, the feelings you can't express in words show on your face, and right now I just want to make sure you're really here beside me, the feelings you can't express in words show on your face"  
_**

**_With Love  
_**

**_-Katherine  
_**


	2. Sesshomaru

**Disclaimer:** No, I do not own the series InuYasha or it's characters. If I had, the title would NOT be InuYasha. I think I'd call it something more...interesting...The title really didn't catch my attention, and I only started watching the series after seeing the name like a hundred times in ads in my brother's Bleach and Fullmetal comic books.

_I am dedicating this chapter to my 6-year-old niece Cassey; She really reminds me of Rin so much, she's adorable, she loves flowers, and she talks in third person sometimes. She also gave me some of my inspiration for this story when she pointed out that Sesshomaru looked like an angel while I was watching InuYasha the third movie, that memory helped me write this chapter, so I am dedicating it to her. I love you, Cassey! - Your auntie Katherine. (Even if Cassey doesn't read fanfiction so she won't know about this, I just thought I'd let you all know...)  
_

Now, on with the story!

* * *

Kagome had immediately rushed into the castle, the stranger still on her back. The thought of bringing him to her room crossed her mind, but she pushed it away with a blush. Her father would probably not feel comfortable with a strange male in his daughter's room, so it rolls out that idea.

She decided to just take him to a guest room, after calling the healers to follow her.

Of course, they had scolded her about it being dangerous to go out all alone so early in the morning. But she just ignored them, like always. They couldn't keep her in the castle forever. They weren't her father. So there! That is that!

Kagome hadn't yet figured out what exactly this young stranger was. He wasn't human, that was obvious, but he could be a youkai...though, his aura didn't feel exactly like a youkai's. It felt...more...pure...And most youkai's didn't have aura's like that.

She had refused to put him down so someone else could take him for some reason. It was odd, but she felt strangely...calm...and peaceful...when she was touching him.

When she and the healers had finally made it to the nearest guestroom, which was up a large staircase, Kagome laid him on the bed and then stayed there until the healers announced that they needed to undress him. She blushed brightly, but then just simply nodded and left, and waited outside until they were done.

Once they finally were, they had all piled out of the room, and Kagome had walked back in. She had stayed by the stranger's side for what seemed like hours. And here she was now...

* * *

She was just watching him sleep. She couldn't wait til he was awake. She wanted to know what happened to him. She wanted to know who he was, what his name was, and what he was. Kagome had also wanted to hear his voice. As odd as it seemed to her, she wanted to be the first one that he saw when he awoke.

He really was interesting...and she couldn't help but just watch him. She was sure that she'd feel just a little creeped-out if someone was just staring at her as she tried to sleep, but she just couldn't help it! He had such a handsome face, almost like an angel's, she just had to stare.

He didn't seem peaceful though. Kagome had watched Inuyasha sleep before, and though the western prince was such a loud person, he seemed so peaceful when he slept, that he actually seemed like a quieter person. Though this young man laying on the bed in front of her looked almost frightened. Like he was having a nightmare. The looks of discomfort and pain made Kagome instantly feel bad, and she ended up taking his hand in her own.

She was slightly surprised when his expression of pain melted away, but it gave her a strange form of happiness to know that she was the one who calmed him down.

Kagome had stayed by his side for a few more minutes until she saw him stir and his eyelids finally flutter open. They were a beautiful gold shade, they looked even more gold than Inuyasha's or Lord Taisho's.

"Oh, you're awake!" Kagome exclaimed cheerfully.

The stranger's eyes widened as they darted over to her, and simply watched her smile.

Kagome jolted and gasped when the young man suddenly jumped away from her, he was off the bed in a blur of white, and on the other side of the room, ignoring the bandages on his back and arms.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked nervously, she got off the chair she was sitting on that was next to the bed and slowly approached him.

She noticed the step he took back when she stepped forward. So she stopped walking.

"Don't be afraid" The princess said, reaching her hand out, trying to smile reassuringly "I'm not going to hurt you."

Somehow, the moment those words came out of her mouth, he looked even more uneasy. Kagome had no clue what to say...what was she supposed to do? Why was he...afraid of her? Was he really afraid of her? He must be, why else would he be trying to put as much space as he could between them? But _why _was he scared of her? It didn't really make any sense. Kagome was harmless.

A knock came from the guest room's door.

"Come in" Kagome said.

The door bursted open, and in ran a small girl with a side ponytail, wearing a fancy orange and white kimono.

"Kagome-neesan!" The little girl cried, running to the older one as she started speaking really fast "Some of the servants told Rin that you would be in here! They said that you helped a strange man and-Oh, is that him? Rin thinks he looks like an angel, can we keep him, Onee-san?"

Kagome laughed weakly at her little sister "I don't know, Rin-chan" she told the little girl "He may need to get home. He's just here so we can heal him."

The little princess' face seemed to fall "Oh...But, I know!" she exclaimed, instantly brightening up again "Rin will bring him some flowers. I'm sure he will like them."

"Alright, Rin, you go do that"

Rin smiled brightly, and looked over at the young man "Goodbye!" she called with a wave, and then ran outside the room, her quick footsteps fading with every passing second.

Naturally, there were no growing flowers, it was winter. But Rin would make them by drawing them on pieces of paper, they came out rather nice and quite realistic. The adorable princess would probably be an artist when she grows up.

A few moments of silence passed before Kagome looked back over to the man, who's name she had yet to discover. Though now that Rin had pointed it out, he really did look like an angel. A wingless angel, but an angel nonetheless. His face seemed softened, and Kagome could have sworn he was smiling earlier when Rin was here. He seemed calmer, not so uneasy, when he looked at her again. He seemed almost...relieved...she didn't know why he seemed relieved, but didn't ask.

"Hey, do you have a name?" She asked softly.

He just stared at her, not replying.

"Hellooo?" Kagome called "Can you understand me?"

His head moved down in a kind of nod. Yes, he understood her.

"Can you speak?"

He only stared.

"I'll take that as a no" Kagome sighed with disappointment, she had been looking forward to hearing his voice "Okay...do you have a name?"

He nodded the same way.

"What is it?" She asked. He continued just staring... "Oh...oh right!" Kagome walked over to a desk and grabbed a quill and piece of paper, handing the items over to the young man "You can write, can't you?"

He took the paper and quill and began to write on it before handing it back to Kagome again.

Kagome's eyes scanned over the three characters "Sesshomaru...Your name is Sesshomaru?"

Again, Sesshomaru nodded.

"All right..." She muttered "So...where did you come from?"

She handed the paper to him again, but he didn't take it from her hands.

Kagome sighed with annoyance "Look, I only want to know where you come from so I can tell my father, and we can help you get home."

Still not a single response.

"Nevermind..." She sighed "I can't see the big deal...do you no longer understand me or something?"

Golden eyes simply continued the _staring blankly_ thing. It was beginning to get slightly annoying.

"Okay...Well, my name is Kagome, I am the princess of the eastern lands, and daughter to Lord Higurashi"

She did a small curtsy, though he only continued..._**staring** 'I wonder if this is how he would've felt if he was awake and knew I was staring at him'_

"There's a bathing room not to far from here. I can ask a servant to take you there...That is, if you would like a bath...?"

Sesshomaru gave the same small nod and followed as Kagome led him outside the room.

* * *

_During the next hour..._

Rin had already been done with making her flower. She had drawn a carnation. Kagome couldn't tell what color it was because it was drawn on black ink over cheap yellowish-brown paper. But it looked great. Quite similar to the actual version. Rin was getting better all the time, though she mainly only drew flowers. Kagome wondered if she would be able to start drawing people soon.

Sesshomaru wasn't done with his bath yet. It was taking quite a while, but Kagome forced herself to not go see if everything was okay. Who knows, maybe he wasn't done dressing, or he was still bathing. And she tried to avoid the inappropriate situation she may get herself into.

The sound of footsteps was heard coming closer to the library where Rin was happily chattering to Kagome about her carnation picture.

Also a familiar voice was suddenly heard booming through the hall "WHAT IS YOUR NAME, GREAT ONE? PLEASE AT LEAST TELL ME, I MUST KNOOOOW!"

Rin stopped talking about her picture, and Kagome looked towards the door.

"...What on earth...?" She mumbled as the door opened and a very wet and annoyed-looking Sesshomaru walked in. He was wearing a simple white kimono that was probably used for sleep, his hair was wet and his bangs stuck to his face, but though he still did not say anything, his facial expression showed that he was extremely irritated and rather angry.

"Oh, hello" Kagome greeted warmly as Sesshomaru walked fully inside and simply sat in one of the chairs in the same moment that another pair of feet was heard.

Kagome and Rin looked again at the entrance while Sesshomaru closed his eyes and seemed to be taking slow deep breaths.

A short toad-like creature with a beak and webbed feet and hands walked into the library. There were three huge bumps on his head, yet he looked as if he didn't even care about them.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" He practically shouted in the same annoying voice.

"Jakken, shut up, and leave him alone" Kagome snapped angrily, her eyes widened as the toad continued yelling other praises and requesting Sesshomaru's name, there were stars in his eyes that were staring at Sesshomaru...This was really really wierd...

"What is wrong with Jakken?" Rin asked softly.

"I...don't know..." Kagome mumbled.

As Jakken continued yelling, Sesshomaru's eye twitched slightly.

"His name is Sesshomaru" she said, anything to shut the toad up.

"Umm...Sesshomaru?" Jakken repeated, then took a breath as if he was about to start shouting again, when Kagome simply shut him up by throwing a cushion at him, then shoving him out of the room. She had never heard Jakken shout so loud before and talk so long in that shouting. Now she may have had a headache...

She heard Jakken's muffled shouts from outside the door, but it was easier to ignore now. Soon, his shouting stopped completely, and Kagome guessed that the toad finally left.

"So, you're name is Sesshomaru?" Rin asked cheerfully, running towards the pale young man.

"Hn"

It wasn't much of an answer, Kagome was thinking, but it would do...She tried to guess how his voice sounded based on that little sound...

"Rin is Rin, I'm Kagome-neesan's sister" Rin continued "Here. Rin made this for Sesshomaru" she handed her carnation drawing over to Sesshomaru who accepted it easily "Are you an angel?" the young girl asked, tilting her head "Mommy used to tell Rin stories about angels...you look like one...are you?"

Kagome watched as Sesshomaru smiled softly.

_'He looks even more angelic like that' _Kagome thought.

He ruffled Rin's hair, making the little princess giggle.

Rin, seemingly pleased by his silent reply even though she wasn't sure if it was a yes or a no, skipped off and rushed out the door of the library, most likely going to find something else to do.

A silence came over the two that were left in the room.

Kagome looked over at the person she saved just earlier "You know, I wonder who did that to you. You were really wounded earlier. I mean, you're wounds seem pretty much healed. Are you a youkai or something?"

Sesshomaru stared at the floor, then slid his eyes over to her, before looking back at the floor again. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it? If it made him uncomfortable, then Kagome would simply keep silent on that subject. But really, where did he come from? He was mute, and wasn't exactly a youkai, his aura felt too pure, Rin said he looked like an angel and he did, but what was he really...?

"What...what are you?" Kagome asked suddenly.

He smiled at her faintly, but that was it.

Kagome looked up towards the door again when she heard faint voices coming from outside and footsteps again, before the door opened widely. Both her and Sesshomaru stared at the doorway to see Souta and Kikyo looking at them in surprise.

"I heard shouting" Kikyo stated.

The two siblings that just came in walked over to the pair that were already inside the library.

"Kagome, what's that?" Kikyo motioned to Sesshomaru.

"Oh, that's Sesshomaru" Kagome explained "He's the person I saved earlier. Didn't some of the servants tell you?"

"Wow really?" Souta said, walking over to Sesshomaru and beginning to circle the seat that the young man was sitting on "He looks interesting...Is he a youkai?"

"I don't know" Kagome admitted truthfully.

"Are you a youkai?" Souta asked Sesshomaru, leaning closer as if it was some secret. Kagome rolled her eyes at that. But Sesshomaru only stared at Souta.

"He's apparently mute" The curly-haired princess said.

"He is not a servant, is he?" Kikyo demanded.

"No, of course not" The younger sister replied.

"Then why is there a demon under the same roof I am under if he is not a servant?"

Kikyo seemed to really dislike youkai, Kagome almost forgot that.

"Because he was hurt and needed help, so I helped him" Kagome answered firmly.

"You should have left him there"

"Why?" Kagome demanded in anger.

"Uh-oh..." Souta mumbled, though he went unnoticed.

"Demons are nothing but filth. Perhaps this is why you were never accepted in becoming a priestess"

"No, I didn't become a priestess because I didn't want to, that's all. Besides, I'm not even sure if he is a demon. His aura seems really pure"

"Of course he is" Kikyo said, then forced a humorless laugh "What else would he be? A monk? An angel or something...?"

"Well...Maybe!" Kagome angrily shot back.

Kikyo laughed "Pathetic..." she mumbled, simply turning and walking out of the room.

Souta watched them for a few seconds, before... "Hey, I think I'm just going to go find Rin. Oh, and Kagome? I believe father's coming back from the north tomorrow, by the way..."

"Uh-huh"

Souta shrugged at his sister's short answer and simply left the library after that.

Kagome and Sesshomaru were once again alone.

"Kikyo can be mean..." Kagome explained quietly "She doesn't like youkai. I don't know why, I don't even think she has a reason. Well, my father's coming home tomorrow. I wonder if he's got that treaty with Lord Naraku, I hope we don't stay enemies, whenever Naraku attacks, it's always full of demons here, attacking everywhere...quite annoying really...Maybe when we're allies, all will be peaceful, since we're already allies with the main south and west kingdoms as well" she looked back at Sesshomaru who was staring at Rin's carnation picture, was he even listening to her?

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked softly.

His slowly looked up, golden eyes curious.

"I'm going to be going now. You can stay here and read if you'd like, or just go back to your room. Alright?"

"Hn" that same sound. It was so short, but Kagome again tried to figure out what his voice sounded like.

With a sigh, Kagome got up and left the library.

* * *

**_Okay, well that's all for now. I hope I'm doing good for a first time._**

**_If you review, no flames please! This is my first fanfic!_**

**_- Katherine  
_**


	3. White Carnation

**Disclaimer: **I do not own this series. That's all you need to know to not sue me, 'kay?

_I am dedicating this chapter to my reviewers: Thank you for the nice reviews, everyone. Though I have only a little bit, they are all positive! And they make me feel so happy!:D And they give me more inspiration! Because of that, I'm putting up another chapter so soon, mainly to make up for the coming weekdays. I may not be as quick to update as I have been, due to school, I'm failing in math, and I need to read some pretty long books for English Class...Okay well, thanks again for the great reviews. - Katherine  
_

Now, on with the story!

* * *

It was the evening already. About seven p.m., Kagome had took a nap, but when she was awake again, was reading fairytales in her room, _The Bamboo Cutter And The Moon Child._ That was her favorite tale, it was a little sad, but sometimes she felt like just getting sad to get sad.

Her mother used to read the story to her alot. It wasn't like most princess tales with the princess marrying her knight in shining armour; In this, Kaguya-hime rejected them all, even the emperor. Kagome then wondered how it would be like for Kaguya, leaving her earthly friends and family behind to return to the moon.

It must have been really sad...

She also wondered how Kaguya's earth family and friends felt when she left, and how long it took for them to recover. It was probably hard for them.

Her thoughts on the story made her think of the moon. The moon made her think on the young man she saved this morning. That mark on his forehead; what did it mean exactly? She'd never seen any mark like that on anyone...Maybe it was just some demonic mark like Lord Taisho had, but on the forehead...But then, only youkai had those. Again she wondered: was Sesshomaru a youkai?

_'Well, he is a mystery, that's for sure...'_

She decided to check on Sesshomaru_, _maybe he was hungry or something. She walked to the kitchens and asked the cooks to make some soup for Sesshomaru. They obeyed and quickly fixed a small pot of chicken broth. One of the maids were going to take the broth up to Sesshomaru, but Kagome told them that she'd do it instead. Of course, they let her without question, which Kagome was rather grateful for.

Kagome wanted to check up on him herself and give him the food, she thought maybe she'd learn more about him with every minute she spent around him.

So carrying a tray of chicken broth, she slowly and carefully walked up the tall staircase to the guest room where Sesshomaru was staying. She knocked on the door and waited for a response that would say 'come in', but received none.

_'Duh! He's mute, how can I forget?'_

With a roll of her eyes at her own stupidity, she simply opened the door to the guest room.

She saw Sesshomaru sitting on the futon bed holding something white and green in his hand.

"Ummm...Sesshomaru?" Kagome called.

Sesshomaru looked up curiously as Kagome placed the tray of broth on a small table next to the futon. The whole guest room wasn't as big as her own, of course, but it was still pretty big. The moonlight from the plain white curtains beamed on the floor and the snow piled up on the window ledge. There really wasn't much clothing in this room except plain white bathing robes or sleeping garments. She'd have to fix that soon.

Kagome eyed the object in Sesshomaru's hand for a few seconds, before...

"Where did you get that?" She exclaimed.

He stared blankly at her.

"I mean, it's winter! How did you get a flower in the middle of winter?" Kagome continued as she studied the flower in his hand, she realized it was a pure white carnation. A carnation...the same flower that Rin had drawn for him earlier. Where did it come from?

Sesshomaru handed the flower over to her.

Kagome blinked in surprise and stared at the flower, then back at him, and then back at the flower, before she hesitatingly reached out and took the flower out of his hand. It was fluffy and cheery looking.

"Ummm...thanks...I guess..." She mumbled.

Out of instinct, she raised the carnation to her nose and smelled the fragrance. It was a nice pure scent that smelt like autumn and spring. A light smile fell on her lips and she looked back at Sesshomaru to see that he had a smile on his lips himself. She blushed and looked down shyly, unable to stop smiling for some reason.

"I think I'll go put this flower in water..." Kagome said quietly, turning to leave _'But how did he get this?'_ What? Did he have some kind of magic or something? That small question only went back to wondering AGAIN what Sesshomaru was, maybe Kikyo was right when she said that Sesshomaru was a demon. Maybe he was a different kind of demon...

About twenty minutes later, she had a small water-filled glass vase in her room, she placed the carnation inside it. She stared at the flower for a few seconds. Great...now she was being reminded of Sesshomaru again, the flower was making her think of him. Now would she be reminded of him every time she looked at the moon or a carnation? With a tiny sigh, she skipped back out of the room.

Rin was probably playing alone with dolls or getting ready for dinner. Souta was probably doing things that Souta would do, and Kikyo was probably meditating.

At this time, Kagome was usually reading, or playing with Rin. Rin had a nanny, but sometimes the little princess liked Kagome being with her instead. Though, at the moment, she just wanted to check back on Sesshomaru again. She could not deny that he really intrigued her, it was like a mystery to find out what he was and where he came from.

There wasn't anything holding her back, she was a princess. She could go if she so wanted to, and no one could say anything about it! :D! No one but her father, and her father wasn't here and no one was watching her. The servants were probably fussing over Kikyo, who was the oldest and 'most beautiful daughter' and yadda yadda, blah blah blah.

Kagome found herself again running through the hallway and back to the guest room, dodging past servants quickly. She never really listened to the 'no running' rules she had learned when she was six. Princesses were supposed to walk slowly and gracefully...Kagome was once again ignoring that rule. You got there so much faster when you ran, which is why Kagome never wore really big layered kimonos, only simpler fancy ones, Rin did the same. Kikyo usually wore the traditional princess ones since she was more calm and walk everywhere gracefully. Kagome sometimes felt slightly envious, but ignored that feeling usually.

Kikyo was the one who got most of the attention anyway, from both their father, mother, and servants. That's how it was.

Besides, if she was like Kikyo, she would have just left Sesshomau to die there. That thought made all feelings of envy disappear for the moment.

Finally, she again reached the door to Sesshomaru's room. She opened it and stepped inside. Sesshomaru was sitting on the futon bed, his eyes were closed and Kagome figured he was sleeping. Now what was she going to do? She didn't feel like doing any of her usual things...

A pair of hands suddenly covered her vision, making her gasp.

"What?"

"Guess" A familiar voice said.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome guessed, a bright smile coming on her lips. What great timing her friend had, right when she was feeling bored.

"Kagome" Inuyasha greeted, taking his hands off her eyes.

Kagome spun around to face him, blushing brightly and not trying to hide it. She was hoping for him to take whatever hint possible that she had romantic feelings for him, maybe he could return them? She could only hope. Lord Taisho had wanted them to marry, but Inuyasha never expressed his opinion on the matter in words, other than it would be a good alliance.

She first looked at his adorable ears. He had those because his mother Izayoi was a human, and his father Taisho was a demon, making him hanyou or half-demon.

"Where did you come from?" Kagome asked softly.

"The window" Inuyasha replied, motioning to the open window "I caught your scent coming from this room, and someone else's too. I wonder why you're here-Oh" he looked at Sesshomaru "Who the hell is this guy supposed to be...?"

"Oh, just someone I found wounded in the forest this morning" Kagome replied quickly, a blush still on her cheeks "He's mute though."

"Ah, so he's dumb. Is he deaf too?"

"No, just mute" Kagome answered, shaking her head slightly "So how are you doing?"

"Just fine." Inuyasha replied shortly.

"Oh...I see..." Kagome mumbled, unable to keep a tiny bit of disappointed out of her voice.

She rarely heard him say 'and how are you doing?', but it didn't matter since she wouldn't know what to say. Did Inuyasha even know how nervous he could make her? Probably not, she had guessed. She sort of hoped not, but also hoped so. Kagome was a little shy about her feelings, but she wanted him to know how she felt.

"Oh, don't be so disappointed" Inuyasha said, he suddenly cupped her cheek.

Kagome gasped softly _'He noticed?' _her blush began to grow slightly _'What's he doing?'_._  
_

She also noticed him slowly coming forward.

_'Is he going to kiss me...?' _Kagome wondered, her eyes beginning to widen _'He is! I can't believe it! It's about time, I...' _she let her thoughts end there as she tried to imagine how a first kiss would feel, and from Inuyasha...She allowed her eyes to close.

"OW!" Inuyasha suddenly exclaimed and Kagome blinked her eyes open.

"Huh?" She mumbled, curious as to what had disturbed them.

A small silver spoon clattered to the ground. Inuyasha was rubbing a bump on his head.

_'A spoon...'_ Kagome thought. The only spoon that could have been in this room would be the one that she gave to Sesshomaru for the broth. So that meant...

Her eyes slowly drifted over her shoulder to the man in question.

As she stared at Sesshomaru, (Who had his eyes closed and was 'sleeping') she noticed how the corners of his lips turned upward slightly in a tiny smile.

Inuyasha suddenly noticed it too and his face reddened with some anger, and he started growling.

"That bastard..."

Sesshomaru decided to choose this time to open his eyes. He actually looked quite innocent, but a feigned type of innocent. Despite the fact that Kagome was slightly annoyed with Sesshomaru since he disturbed what could have been her first kiss, she couldn't help but giggle as she placed her fingers over her lips, he looked cute when he looked innocent.

Though, Inuyasha seemed to be even more annoyed with this and did not find this at all humorous, he looked as if he was about to attack Sesshomaru.

"Wait Inuyasha!" Kagome called, trying to stop a fight "This is Sesshomaru's room for now, don't you think it was kind of rude to ummm...do what we almost did right in front of him? Maybe he was offended!"

_'Maybe that's why he threw the spoon at Inuyasha's head' _

Now she felt slightly ashamed, some people probably didn't like couples kissing in front of them when they were in their room. That was really rude actually.

"Sesshomaru, huh? That's the bastard's name? Keh, I don't give a damn if this is his room! I'll kill him!"

Kagome widened her eyes. Inuyasha really seemed furious, but he couldn't be serious, could he?

She gasped when Inuyasha actually lunged at Sesshomaru, swiping his claws. But Sesshomaru was out of the bed in a flash and already moving to the other side of room. Even wounded, Sesshomaru was quick, and he simply dodged Inuyasha's every attack. Of course, now the bed sheets were torn and so were the pillows, so feathers were flying up.

_'How can he keep dodging my attacks?' _Inuyasha thought with frustration, using another Iron-Reaver-Soul-Stealer attack, Sesshomaru again dodged it with a smirk _'He looks as if this is only a game!'_

That thought filled Inuyasha with more anger and he tried fighting harder.

Kagome watched, horrified, as some of the curtains were ripped down and the dresser toppled over. She had to find some way to stop this fight. But how? It was so difficult for Inuyasha to stop fighting when he had already started. An idea popped into her head all of a sudden.

_'Why didn't I think of this before?'_ She smiled, then frowned _'Because I don't know how it works exactly, but there's no other way so it's worth a shot'_

Quickly, she reached into her kimono and pulled out a beaded necklace. She had stolen this from Kikyo a year ago, but Kikyo had like two others so it was no big deal, Kikyo probably didn't even remember this one. The beads were filled with some sort of holy magic that Kikyo's mentor, Kaede, had filled inside.

Kagome lifted the necklace up faced it towards the boys _'Please...go to Inuyasha'_ she did feel guilty doing this, but she couldn't let Inuyasha kill Sesshomaru. She wasn't sure if it would work since she had never had exact directions on how to use it, only that it needed an activating word.

The beads seemed to obey her thoughts and they flew like sparks and hooked around Inuyasha's neck.

Inuyasha blinked in surprise at the necklace that suddenly appeared around his neck, but continued attacking Sesshomaru.

_'Time for the activating word. Which word should I choose...?' _she finally made her decision _'I'm sorry, Inuyasha, please forgive me' _she took a deep breath, and..."SIT BOY!" she yelled.

The hanyou crashed into the floor and Kagome held her breath, hoping that the floor wouldn't break.

_'What do you know? It actually worked...'_ Kagome thought.

After a few seconds, he looked up with anger "WHAT THE HELL, KAGOME?"

"I'm really sorry, Inuyasha" Kagome apologized quickly "But I don't think a good hostess lets her guests kill each other, I had to stop you in some way!"

Inuyasha got to his feet and glared at her "I get it..." he muttered, his cute ears flattening against his head "You don't need me here, you've got your mute boy!" he turned to leave.

"No, wait, Inuyasha! It's not like that!" Kagome cried "Why don't you stay for dinner?" it was rather random, but she wanted Inuyasha to stay here, for at least a little longer.

"Whatever" Inuyasha grumbled. He really wanted to stay and was tempted to shout 'Of course!', but wasn't about to let her know that while he was still 'angry' at her. He left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Kagome sighed in frustration and plopped down on the floor, she started to rub her temples "Sesshomaru...WHYYY?" she whined. She so wanted Inuyasha to kiss her and they were so close!

She didn't receive a response...as expected. Sesshomaru seemed rather expressionless, but when Kagome had just spoken, he looked a little guilty.

Kagome sighed again and begun to stand back on her feet. Inuyasha was probably just annoyed, he didn't actually think she was infatuated with Sesshomaru. Similar stories happened with Koga and Hojo, when Kagome healed Koga after a bird demon known as the bird of paradise attacked him, and when Kagome accepted a gift from Hojo and gave the southern prince a pretty smile. He got over it like a day, but then Koga and Hojo ended up becoming his love rivals. Though she had to admit, Inuyasha's jealousy was very flattering.

But, oh how she really wanted that kiss!

"This room is a disaster" Kagome pointed out the obvious. The bed was...torn in half...The dresser was on the floor, the curtains were in pieces on the floor...and there were feathers all over the floor from the pillows. All because of a spoon...

Kagome picked up a couple of feathers of the floor and dropped them, then picked them up and dropped them again. She repeated this action a few times while Sesshomaru simply watched her in silence.

Finally, the princess had stopped playing with the feathers and stood up.

"Dinner is going to be done soon" Kagome said "I think you should start getting ready" she then left the room so Sesshomaru could get ready with privacy.

The simple white kimono's in that room were able to fit, but they were slightly too big or too small (No surprise there, it would be a surprise if she had found that all the kimono's fit him perfectly. If that had happened, things would just be getting a little too weird around here) She'd have to go to the market place to buy Sesshomaru clothes for himself. She had a feeling that he was going to stay with them for a while.

* * *

The wooden table was polished and shiney as always, and the cushions were a dark red color. The cooks came in and brought the food around the table. Oden, Kare Raisu, Miso Soup, and Sushi.

"Itadakimasu" Kikyo said, and that's when everyone begun serving their food.

Kikyo sat with Souta, Rin, and Kagome on one side of the table, while Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were sitting on the opposite side, but as far away as possible from each other. Kagome smiled faintly, finding a tiny bit of humor in that, strangely.

Inuyasha didn't seem too thrilled that Sesshomaru had joined them, but what else could he expect? He WAS a guest after all. The hanyou kept sending glares at the other man close by, though Sesshomaru didn't even seem to notice, and just ate.

Dinner passed in a rather uncomfortable silence. At least for Kagome. She wanted someone to say something! Rin was happily chattering about not-so-important stuff, but she was cute so Kagome couldn't help but smile as she watched her little sister. Souta asked for food to be passed to him once in a while. Inuyasha was glaring at everything that moved, but his eyes seemed soften when they looked at Kagome. Kikyo was elegantly quiet, like in a way a princess should be. And Sesshomaru...who knew what he was thinking? He'd glance up every once in a while at everyone, but then continued eating in silence, as expected.

After a while when everyone was done, Inuyasha spoke up.

"Gochisousama deshita"

Kagome smiled up at him.

Soon, the cooks came and cleared the dishes away again.

* * *

"Well, goodbye Inuyasha" Kagome said softly. Inuyasha was going home now. The western lands were quite far and all, but Inuyasha was really fast, it only took him like four or five hours when he was running top speed. He probably didn't have anything better to do back in his home.

"Goodbye Kagome"

And out of the palace he went, he seemed to have forgotten she had placed those enchanted beads around his neck, considering he seemed kinda happy at the moment.

Kagome sighed after a few minutes. She was half-hoping he'd attempt to kiss her again. But oh well, she was guessing it took some guts to just go and kiss a person. She yawned and walked up the staircase to reach her room.

Of course, her room was sort of passed Sesshomaru's, and since his room was on the way, she decided to just drop by.

As she entered, the room was still a disaster. Nothing seemed cleaned up at all. The bed still sliced in half by Inuyasha's claws, the dresser still on the floor, the goose feathers everywhere. It was not impossible for Sesshomaru to sleep on the floor, but he was a guest. She wasn't about to let a guest sleep on the floor, that was rude.

Sesshomaru was staring at her as he leaned against the wall. He had his eyes closed before she had come in, but now they were fixed on her with slight curiosity.

"Come on, Sesshomaru" Kagome said "We'll have to move you to another room tonight, alright?"

He nodded slightly and walked towards her.

Kagome gave him a bit of a slight smile and led him through the halls to the first guest room they came across.

"Well. There you go. Hopefully, if you and Inuyasha ever get into another fight, it won't destroy this room too. I'll tell a servant to fix up the last room before father comes home tomorrow."

Silently, Sesshomaru sat down in the futon bed.

Kagome smiled at him again and turned to leave she suddenly felt a warm hand grab hers. She looked back in surprise "Huh?"

She looked into his eyes. There was some innocence in them, and he looked almost as if he'd be frightened if she left. At the moment, she was reminded of a child afraid of the dark. But there was a question in those eyes, that was clear even without words: Stay with me.

"Do...do you want me to stay?" Kagome asked, slightly stunned.

"Mm-hm..." was the reply, along with a small nod. He moved to the side of the bed, he was making room for her.

At first, she blushed, but then when she still saw the innocence in those beautiful golden eyes of his, she knew he didn't want anything more than just sleep.

"Okay..." Kagome mumbled, though she was still blushing as she slid under the covers beside him. He seemed frightened, just as he was when she had watched him sleep earlier. Something bad had happened to him. Kagome was determined to find out what, but how was she supposed to when, for some reason, he didn't talk? How was she supposed to get answers?

She soon drifted off into a rather peaceful sleep, her hand holding his.

* * *

**And that's the end of chapter three!**

**I wrote this chapter in two hours and I didn't really think it out, but I hope it's good enough, I didn't re-read it for mistakes because I've gotta go because it's late and I have to get to school tomorrow so goodnight everybody!**

**- Katherine**


	4. Breakfast Discussions

**Disclaimer: **I do not own this series or claim to own it. If I did, I wouldn't bother writing this message.

_Thanks for the wonderfully encouraging reviews, everyone. And to answer Jtwsnw20's question; Yes, I was planning on it. I'm just trying to figure out where it would fit. I really want to write it though, but I don't want it to be too soon._

Now, on with this story!

* * *

Kagome woke up feeling warmer than she normally would in winter times. It wasn't only due to the fact that she was asleep next to Sesshomaru. No, it was because she happened to wake up finding herself clutching onto Sesshomaru, which made her warmer because of the red blush that was currently making it's way into her shirt.

"Heh...Uh...Good...morning?" Kagome mumbled as she finally summoned up the courage to look up at him in the eyes. She knew she moved around alot in her sleep, so at the moment, she was wondering exactly how much she had moved this time.

Ohh, if Inuyasha were here, he would definitely think this was more than a simple infatuation, and he probably wouldn't talk to her for just how long? She was partially thankful that she hadn't asked Inuyasha to spend the night as well.

And back to the present, Kagome was staring at gold eyes that stared back blankly.

Oh, how she wished he'd just say something-ANYTHING!

Kagome blush even deepened, if possible. You could hardly blame her, she had never been in bed with another male, even if it was for nothing more than sleeping. Embarrassed by even her own blush, she buried her face on the mattress and shook her head.

Finally, she gathered up courage to look back up to see him smiling softly at her. Though she really didn't want to smile back, some force made her lips crack a smile which eventually broke into giggles. She didn't want to smile to begin with, but when she saw his smile, it was like she could not stop her lips from cheerfully turning up.

"Er...we need to, uh, go to town today to, ummm...get you some clothing soon from the market"

He nodded as if understanding her and agreeing.

She sat up from the bed and realized, just now, that she had slept in her day clothes instead of sleep garments. Oh well...she'd need to change...she felt she had slept very well, seeing as she didn't wake up at all during the night from the cold, and she was too awfully comfortable to wake up early for a morning walk.

Kagome was still blushing but it had faded some, so it only looked like a pink flush from the cold weather, although it was much more than that. She didn't want to look like a tomato if Kikyo or Souta saw her.

"See you later" Kagome said without turning around, she knew if she did now, she'd be all red all over again. She wordlessly opened the door to the guestroom and left, she knew Sesshomaru was smart enough to know this was time to get ready now.

Kagome walked through the halls, not running today. She stopped by the first guestroom she put Sesshomaru in which ended up destroyed by the battle that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha got themselves into.

When she finally reached the room, she opened the door and peaked inside. A few servants were still working about. Everything was in place. Good...her father should be returning soon...

Deciding to start getting ready for the day, she made her way back to her room to take a bath. She was rather quick about it and finished in fifteen minutes, then quickly slipped on a simple green and white kimono, skipping the layers, she didn't need those, they always made it harder to walk in.

Kagome stared at herself in the mirror and smiled at her reflection, turning in different angles to see how she looked, she fixed her hair a little, and when she decided that she looked pretty enough, she skipped out of the room.

Before she could walk down the stairs, she heard Kikyo's voice "Father, you've returned" her voice sounded warmer than usual.

A bright and pretty smile lit up on Kagome's face. Father was back!

Her father, Lord Higurashi, was a thin and tall, rather good looking man in his middle-ages. He had shoulder length black hair like his children, but he kept it in a topknot ponytail, and he also brown eyes like them too.

She ran down the stairs "FATHER!" she yelled happily, running at top speed. Another reason to not obey the walking slow rules. Her father looked at her and he smiled warmly, opening his arms. Kagome ran straight in "You're back!" she laughed.

"I am back" Her father said, laughing with her.

"DADDY!" A new voice called and Rin was seen running down, giggling, as she went to Lord Higurashi. Kagome pulled away from her dad as he knelt down and outstretched his arms, Rin ran straight into them. He picked her up and twirled her around, causing the little princess to laugh.

"So, little lady, how have you been?" He asked her.

Rin giggled again "Oh wonderful! You know, Kagome had saved a strange man yesterday! He looks like an angel, daddy!" she was talking very fast "But he doesn't talk, Rin think it's because of the tongue of angels, you know? That's probably why, maybe he really is an angel!"

Lord Higurashi laughed, then raised an eyebrow at Kagome "A strange man, huh?"

Kagome blushed brightly, but replied with a nod "He was wounded, I brought him in here to heal him. I think, perhaps he may be a youkai."

"I see..."

"Father, you've returned!" Another voice said. Souta came running and stood in front of his dad "How was your trip, Father?"

"...Good, son" He replied, and ruffled his son's hair, but his hesitance made Kagome frown thoughtfully.

"So, did you get the peace treaty with Lord Naraku?"

"Well, yes" Lord Higurashi replied "We shall discuss this at breakfast"

"Ummm...Discuss?" Kagome asked curiously, but didn't receive an answer.

Footsteps sounded and the family looked up and saw Sesshomaru casually walking down the high staircase with his head down, staring at the floor, silent as always. He finally made it down and stared expressionlessly at the father and siblings.

"Oh, you must be the strange man Rin was telling me about" Lord Higurashi greeted "A pleasure to meet you" he held out his hand.

Sesshomaru stared at the hand, but didn't shake it as he was meant to, and instead sent a rather questioning glance at Lord Higurashi.

"Hnn..." The Lord frowned, then turned away "Won't you come join us for breakfast, young man?" he looked over at Kagome and quietly asked "Does he have a name?"

Kagome nodded slightly "Sesshomaru."

"Sesshomaru" Her dad repeated "Alright then, Sesshomaru, come join us."

Sesshomaru smiled faintly, using the smile as a substitute for a thank you, and followed them.

At the low table, they were again sitting on the red mats as they ate.

"So...Are you going to tell us about your meeting with Lord Naraku?" Kikyo asked.

"Ah, yes" Their father cleared his throat "Kagome..."

Kagome looked up with curiousity "Um yes?"

"Kagome, when I had asked to call it truce with Lord Naraku, he agreed, but only if..." The father waited for a few seconds.

Kagome felt slightly nervous as ideas of what Naraku had asked floated around her head, it had something to do with her, that she knew, considering her father had said her name with such seriousness "If...?"

"If you become his queen"

Silence...

Then:

"**_WHAT?_**" Kagome cried in disbelief, almost spitting out her food "Why can't he marry Kikyo? She's older, stronger, and more...ugh...more prettier!" she had wanted to marry Inuyasha, not Naraku, now it felt like her dreams were falling apart!

"Because," Her father began "For reasons he chose to keep to himself, he had wanted to marry you instead of Kikyo. Now, we need this alliance, did you not see what happened last time Naraku attacked? The castle had almost been overthrown. The place was overwhelmed with demons, Naraku is too strong. I fear if we reject this now, he would only attack even more"

Kagome shoulders slumped in shock, she couldn't believe this! It was all so sudden! Now that she had to get married to Naraku, she couldn't even look forward to a future with Inuyasha! It was terrible...She was going to marry someone that she felt nothing for. Her dreams shattered, she felt like screaming. But she just sat in place, her eyes wide with disbelief.

She glanced around the table to study everyone's reactions. Her father had suddenly paid very much attention to how delicious the food was, Souta looked down, not really knowing what to say, Kikyo glanced at her but then started eating in silence, Rin offered Kagome a weak smile that was obviously showing her big sister how sad she felt for her. Finally, Kagome looked over at Sesshomaru, he was staring back at her as if that was what he was doing the entire time. He most likely was. There was an unreadable emotion in his eyes.

With a sigh, Kagome turned back to her food. She didn't feel like she had much of an appetite any longer.

"May I be excused?" She asked with monotoned politeness.

"You may" Lord Higurashi replied, granting her wish.

Kagome sat up and left the table to go to her room. Now, she wished more than ever that she didn't have to be a princess, she wished to be just a normal village person who did something important like Sango. But then again, she could be wrong about Naraku too, he could actually be a good person. She hadn't had the time to figure him out since the only encounters they had, she had seen him from afar, trying to kill her father's army. He was really very handsome, but a strange type of handsome-ness. A type of handsome that strangely creeped her out. Most of the time, he was wearing this hideous white and blue baboon pelt.

It was so damn ugly.

No sane person in their right mind would want to wear something like that. Odd as it was, that thought was supposed to make her laugh to herself, but instead it made her more sad and freaked out.

* * *

Kagome had simply laid down in her bed and stared at the canopy above her for what seemed like hours. It couldn't have been more than half an hour, though. Her eyes darted towards the window and she watched the snow softly fall outside.

"Maiorita Tenshi tachi me wo samashite, tatoe tsubasa wo nakushite mo, donna sugata ni natte kakureta tte, ai musubu kodou ga kikoeru, mune ga koko ga itai no wa ushinatte, ai no akashi ima tamesareteiru no yo" Kagome sang softly. It was a song she heard her mother sing sometimes when she put her to bed or when she walked in the gardens. It was a beautiful song. But her mother was gone now. Passed away two years ago in the winter for some terrible sickness. It was hard for everyone. Although they had all tried to put behind them, the sadness still seemed to linger there. The castle wasn't as cheery as it once was.

A knock was heard on the door.

"Enter" Kagome said quietly without taking her eyes off the canopy above her.

She heard the sound of the door creaking open and heard footsteps. She failed to hear any words as she expected, so she immediately sat up to see Sesshomaru standing by her bedside, staring at her, somewhat curiously. There was something in his eyes...

"Oh hello, Sesshomaru" Kagome greeted "We still need to go to town to get you some clothing. I mean you can't always stay walking around the house in that" she gestured to his plain and simple white kimono that seemed to be extra baggy and the sleeves were just a little long.

"Hm"

"Say...would you like to go now?" She suggested "I mean, there's nothing better to do, so..." she let her voice trail off 'I need to see Sango and Miroku, they always cheer me up'.

"Hn" He nodded faintly, and Kagome forced a smile, it didn't reach her eyes though.

"Alright, let's go then"

* * *

_**And that's all for now.**_

_**The song Kagome was singing is Tenshi by Kokia again. The translation is: "Open your eyes, Angels come down to earth, even if you lost your wings, no matter what you look like or how you hide, I can hear your heartbeat and it binds me with love, now you are testing me, the pain in my heart is proof that I lost a love"**_

_**I'm tired and it's 12:00 AM, school again tomorrow, or rather, later on today. At least it will be saturday soon. And Christmas is in eight days! Yay!**_

_**I was out of ideas on this chapter, so I just put things from the top of my mind together. Hopefully, it is good. I mean, right now I think it's fine, but later I sometimes think it is just stupid and pointless and corney. Well, oh well...  
**_

_**-Katherine  
**_


	5. A Trip to the Village

**Disclaimer:** No, I'm not Rumiko Takahashi and I do not own the InuYasha series. For if I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

Okay, I have a riddle! Riddles are fun! Yay!

_They belong to me_  
_They belong to you_  
_They can make you feel happy_  
_They can make you feel blue_  
_They never ever end until you do_

_What are these? (Answer at the end of the chapter)_

* * *

The walk to the village was silent, Kagome wanted to start a conversation, but couldn't think of anything to say. And naturally, Sesshomaru didn't say anything as always. But it didn't matter much, normally Kagome went to the village alone with a bow and arrows. She learned some archery, and practiced when she was bored, but she wasn't a master at it like Kikyo was.

Kagome sighed, kicking a small pebble in her path. Time and time again throughout this whole trip, she wondered why Naraku would ever want to marry her instead of Kikyo. Maybe it was the fact that Kikyo was a boring and kind of cold person? No, that wouldn't make sense since Naraku had never met either of them. Maybe her father told Naraku. But then again, Lord Higurashi wasn't the kind of person to say that Kikyo was boring. Maybe Lord Higurashi had told Naraku of his daughters and Naraku ended up liking Kagome more than Kikyo? That was probably the most believable one.

...And now, Kagome didn't know whether to still feel angry or flattered. So she stuck with both.

Naraku usually attacked at any random time, without even warning with a letter or something. It wasn't right, and they could never request help from their allies. They couldn't just go and attack Naraku either, seeing as his castle was always hidden in who knows where? True, Naraku was the Lord of the Northern Lands, but no one knew where his castle lied. He had a small fortress for meetings which is how Lord Higurashi had been able to meet him in the north, but he was just another mystery.

And again for probably the 100th time today, Kagome found herself letting go of every hope of Naraku being a nice man, considering he was just too strange.

"So..." Kagome began, trying to strike up a one-sided conversation "What do think of Naraku so far, Sesshomaru?" she looked at his face to see his reaction, but his expression was completely emotionless, and he didn't look at her. With a light shrug and a small sigh, Kagome turned her gaze back to the road "No comment, huh?" she sighed again, missing the way his fist suddenly clenched tightly.

There was a silence for a few moments.

"Do you want to play a game?" Kagome suggested. She was just a little bored, even though she never had any company whenever she went to the village alone, she had company now and why would she want to just act like she didn't? Well she wasn't, but she wanted to do something with the company she had for now, mute or not.

"Hmm..." The way it sounded was like 'Sure, why not?' and that was how Kagome took it.

"Okay!" Kagome smiled brightly "Let's play...Onigokko!" it was a kids game, but she always played it with Rin and Souta, and even Kikyo when they were younger. Besides, it was the only game she could think of that didn't need more than two people, and it didn't require anything, save for the people who were playing it.

"Huh?" He looked over at her blankly and blinked a couple times.

"You don't know Onigokko?" She asked in shock, it was such a popular game! Who didn't know Onigokko?

As expected, no reply, but rather a blank face that was silently questioning her.

"Alright then..." Kagome began to explain "Onigokko is a game where...uh, let's just say I have to chase you, if I catch you, you're tagged, then you have to chase me and tag me, and it just goes on and on...So, you get it?"

He nodded his head.

Kagome beamed and then tapped his shoulder "You're it!" she then took off running as fast as she could, laughing all the way. This should get her mind of her troubles for now...It also might get her to the village faster since she was running at top speed.

Finally, running out of breath, she paused to catch her breath, then did a quick look around. She didn't see her companion.

"Hello?" Kagome called "Sesshomaru? Where-" she suddenly felt a hand clamp over her mouth, she almost screamed, thinking that some bandit may have appeared along the road that was empty only moments ago.

Though, when she glanced over her shoulder and looked at the person she was being 'attacked' by, it turned out to only be no other than her companion. He was smirking at her, she glared.

"You don't need to scare me like that" Kagome muttered "So...I guess I'm tagged now..."

She smiled innocently and closed her eyes for a second to take a breath. When they were opened, she widened them as she noticed how far Sesshomaru had run, he was fast! He was like fifty or sixty feet away, though he had stopped running, and seemed to be waiting for her patiently by where the road went into the woods again at a very tall tree.

Kagome ran first, then she got tired, and started walking until she finally caught up with him, she unconsciously ran her hand over the rim of an old well as she passed.

"You're...good...at this..." She complimented weakly, taking deep breaths since she was out of air. The comment was pretty...lame? Stupid? Obvious? Oh well, it didn't matter, she didn't know what else to say anyway.

At last, Kagome finished with her breathing.

"Let's stop now..." She suggested breathlessly.

"Hn" That sounded like an agreement.

Kagome smiled faintly, she hadn't at all been thinking about her marriage arrangement, so this smile was real.

"Well, we're almost there" She cheerfully said, placing her hand on the bark of the tall tree, it was leafless like all the rest of them "This is the Tree of Ages, by the way. It's five hundred years old...This tree usually helps me find my way to the village, come on!" she grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him through the grove of trees.

When they broke through the all the trees, there was a small hill that led down into a rather large village-town.

* * *

"Okay, I like this one!"

Kagome handed another kimono to her companion after holding it up in front of him to see if it could fit.

They had already bought...well, a lot, though the one that she just took was all white except a red hexagon pattern that had small sakura blossoms in each hexagon on the the haori sleeve ends and shoulder part, and also the blue and yellow obi. She loved the sakura and hexagon design and immediately picked it out, she thought it would look good on him.

"Do you think this is enough?" Kagome asked softly, glancing back at Sesshomaru who was holding several different kimono's "I guess it's enough for now"

He nodded.

"Kagome-chan!" A voice called suddenly.

Kagome turned around and was suddenly pulled into a strong embrace of her friend, who was wearing her usually pink and green kimono. Sango wasn't nervous anymore about hugging the daughter of the king of the land she was standing on, they met when Kagome was fifteen, Sango was sixteen at the time, and now they were best friends.

"Sango-chan!" Kagome exclaimed, hugging Sango back. Sesshomaru stared curiously, but said nothing like always.

"How are you doing?" Sango asked.

"Great!" She replied quickly, without even thinking of what she just said, as she rethought Sango's question and her answer, her face fell with sadness "Well...no, no not really"

"We can talk about it at home, if you want?" Her friend suggested.

"Maybe..."

"Hey, who's this?" Sango asked, motioning toward Sesshomaru.

"This is Sesshomaru" Kagome replied "Sango, Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru, Sango" she quickly introduced them.

"Uh...nice to meet you?" Sango said, slightly uneasy, the young woman had some bad experiences with demons. She was also practicing the 'art' of demon-slaying, like her father had done even as a blacksmith, so was her little brother.

No reply.

"Nice to meet you?" Sango repeated with a slight frown.

"He doesn't speak" Kagome said.

"Oh...oh, my apologies" She apologized half-heartily and bowed her head.

"So, where's Miroku?" The princess casually asked.

Sango's face darkened "Where do you think...?" she questioned slowly, then started mumbling things under her breath, though Kagome cannot understand most of it, she did hear "...womanizing monk lechers..."

"I see..."

"You see what?" Sango demanded, she seemed slightly angry.

"Oh, nothing!" Was the princess' nervous reply "Nothing at all...Hey, how's Kohaku, Shippo, and Ryo?"

Kohaku was Sango's first brother, he's eleven years old, and as mentioned earlier, he is the brother who is also training to become a demon slayer.

Shippo was an orphaned kitsune, though Sango's mother made the exception to adopt a demon, and he was now Sango's adopted brother.

Ryo was Sango's baby brother. He's only about nine months old, not even a year, but he had recently been having a terrible disease. They were trying to get him better, though, according to the healers, Ryo had a 70% chance of dying, a 30% chance of living.

"Oh, they're ummm...good...Why don't you drop by and check up on them? You know how much Shippo loves you."

"Alright, come on, Sesshomaru"

* * *

"How nice of you to drop by, Lady Kagome" Sango's mother, Rika, greeted as they entered, she was sitting down on a wooden rocking chair with a blue bundle in her arms. Ryo, no doubt.

"Thank you" Kagome politely replied.

"Oh..." Rika looked past her and saw Sesshomaru "Who is your friend?"

"Sesshomaru, a demon, I think...But don't worry, I don't believe he'll harm anyone, he doesn't talk apparently" Kagome answered "Sesshomaru, this is Rika, Sango's mother"

"Where is Shippo?" Sango asked "I was sure he would've been jumping over the walls when he saw Kagome again"

"Playing somewhere with Kohaku, they should be back soon" Rika replied.

"I'll wait then" Kagome said "I didn't bring him anything, I suppose I forgot"

"How can you forget Shippo?" Sango asked curiously.

"Well, I have recently been engaged to someone, so a lot has been on my mind" She replied slowly.

"Oh really?" Sango asked, smirking "Who? Koga? Hojo? Or _Inuyasha_?" it was no big secret for Sango or her mother, they all knew Kagome was in love with Inuyasha and they kept it a personal secret. And Sesshomaru was here, but she knew that he wouldn't go off and blab it to someone, he's apparently mute for goodness sake.

"No" Kagome answered.

"Then who? Not your mute companion, is it?"

"His name is Sesshomaru, not my mute companion" Kagome corrected "And no, he isn't."

"Then _who_? _Lord Naraku_?"

"Actually...yes"

Silence for a few seconds.

"B-But I thought the northern lands were enemies with the eastern lands" Sango said.

"Perhaps the marriage is for a truce" Rika stated "Is that correct, Lady Kagome?"

"What? Oh yes, that's correct" Kagome answered "I didn't get a say in the matter, by the way."

"You poor thing...You know what?" Sango begun "You and Inuyasha should just run away together. Oh, I think it would be so romantic!"

'That sounded slightly out of character for Sango' Thought Kagome "And then the northern lands can attack the eastern lands while I selfishly run off the one I love, right?"

Sango sighed "Well now that you put it that way..ugh, I'm just trying to cheer you up"

"You have" Kagome replied, and forced a fake smile "See? I'm happy again"

"That was fake" Sango said with boredom "You've done better before"

"And you usually do better when Miroku is helping you"

The mention of the monk made Sango blush, and her blush made Kagome laugh.

Rika smiled at the two girls.

"We're home!" A high-pitched voice yelled. All heads turned back to see Kohaku and Shippo run into the room.

Shippo froze and stared up at Kagome "...KAGOMEEEEEEE!" he squealed, jumping towards Kagome.

Kagome caught him in her arms and spinned him around.

"Did you bring me anything?" Shippo asked when Kagome finally stopped spinning.

"I'm really sorry, Shippo. Not this time" She apologized.

Shippo looked a little disappointed, but just covered it with a smile "I'm glad you're here. Who's he?" he pointed towards Sesshomaru who was wordlessly watching everything that had happened in the last few minutes.

"That's Sesshomaru." She replied "He doesn't speak, but I came here to buy him some clothing, and come see you, of course" she hugged him to her chest tightly "Oh, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Kagome"

Kohaku smiled a little and ran over to his mother.

"How's Ryo doing?" He asked.

"...Better"

"Are you sure?"

Rika looked up at her oldest son "I am" she mumbled, then looked back down at her youngest son.

"Well, I think we need to get going" Kagome announced "We spent alot of time here. It's already sunset. We'll need to get back home before it's too dark"

"Oh, but why?" Sango asked "Why don't you both spend the night?"

Kagome looked at Rika "Ummm...well...maybe..."

"If you want to, you may, my lady" Rika said.

"Yes!" Shippo exclaimed "Please, Kagome?"

"Well I guess it couldn't hurt"

* * *

**AND I AM STOPPING THERE! I would have had this done earlier, but I came up with three endings and wrote them all down. They all seemed very stupid, so I re-wrote it until I got this ending. It is now 1:00 A.M.  
**

**Onigokko: The Japanese way of saying the the name of the game of Tag.**

**And the answer to the riddle is "Thoughts"**

**By the way, before I close this, will someone please answer me the following question? What happens when the 60 day lifespan run of my documents runs out on this site? I'm really really curious about that. Thanks!  
**

**-Katherine.  
**

** (Also I didn't re-read this chapter, I'm too tired and I want it posted now)**


	6. Through his eyes

**Disclaimer: **As I've said before, I don't not own this series, and I'm obviously not claiming to own it.

Guess who's going to be narrating half this chapter? Sesshomaru! I thought my stopping place on chapter five was good for a POV switch. This is not where we left off, it is starting at the beginning, but with Sesshomaru's POV.

By the way, I can be bad at being evil, It may come out sounding stupid and so typically villian-ish, but I am bad at being a villan...ugh...How do you spell that word? Is it villan? Villian? Or villain?

Okay, I have another riddle!:D

**_What is a full word that only has one letter, it begins with the letter E and ends with the letter E?_**

**_Answer at the end of the chapter_**

* * *

I did not expect to get attacked so very soon.

It was some ogre that attacked me, I wasn't expecting it and it managed draw blood by only clawing it's hand and scratching my arm, I did not understand why exactly it wanted to attack me, I didn't provoke it or anything, it just did. Though before it could try to throw another attack, something black that gave off a poisonous scent had struck the creature, then just burned it.

I looked up to just see a man, I didn't know when he had came here, he seemed to come right on cue, which made me slightly suspicious. The man was wearing this black kimono with a blue vest, he had black hair that was just so frizzy, and blood red eyes.

I did not know who he was, or if he had come to attack like the ogre had, so I ended up going into a defensive battle stance.

The man chuckled, then simply smiled. The smile seemed real, the person was either a good actor or not faking it at all.

"I have not come to fight"

I understood him, I hadn't really expected to, but I did.

"You do not need to be so defensive"

I found myself lowering my stance a little, but I was still remaining defensive.

The man took a step towards me, though I narrowed my eyes and remained in my stance.

"You do not have to be afraid" He said reassuringly "I will not harm you"

I have no idea what compelled me to trust him, but I found myself completely dropping my defense stance and I stared at him.

"What do you want?" I demanded in the only language I knew how to speak.

The man stared at me for some moments, then smirked widely "Why, I only want to help you heal that wound" he motioned to my arm "Even a powerful being like you could get an infection, and that would not be very nice, would it now?"

I widened my eyes. Not only did he understand me, but he seemed like he knew what I was.

"That's right" He continued, looking as if he was taking note of my expression "I understand you, and I know exactly what you are...And if I had wanted you to be destroyed, wouldn't you think I would have tried already? You are the superior being, and don't you believe that you are more powerful than I am, if something happens with me attacking you, wouldn't you know that you would win?"

I frowned and eyed him suspiciously. His aura seemed very powerful, but I was able to tell that I was still stronger. Maybe he really did only want to help. I couldn't be paranoid over everything. Maybe he was someone in this realm who knew about my task, maybe he could help...

"Alright then..." I said slowly.

"Come follow me. My castle is nearby. I will send a healer to clean your wound."

My wound would heal on its own, I knew that, but I still wanted to speak to this person, so I kept silent.

* * *

We had finally arrived at a large forest clearing. The trees were bare of leaves, but the white covering of snow topped them all, as well as the ground.

'There's nothing here' I thought 'But he said his castle was nearby...' I sensed magic around, strongly.

The man walked forward and stretched out his hand as if to touch something. When he did, the air at the tips of his fingers rippled in like a mirage or an illusion. I looked curious at that.

'A barrier...' I figured.

The man stepped inside the barrier and motioned for me to follow. When I passed, a dark castle was visible in front of us. It felt evil, every part of it. I felt like I should just leave, but my curiosity ended up moving my feet for me toward the castle, following the odd man.

"You have just entered this realm, haven't you?" He asked.

"What of it?"

He just chuckled "I already know, I was only trying to start up a conversation."

I felt myself frown for another time that day.

We entered the castle. It seemed oddly vacant, there weren't many people around. Once, I had seen a woman who had her hair tied in a bun and had red eyes the same color as the man who was leading me around. She didn't say anything though.

The whole castle was dark, with some candles here and there. The place really did look frightening, but I refused to let it show.

"Do you wish for something to eat?"

After those words, I can't seem to remember anything starting from that moment. The memory felt fuzzy, my head hurt, I felt seriously ill and dizzy.

I found myself laying on a futon in a dark room. My wounded arm was bandaged, but I guessed if I only removed the cloth binding the wound, it would be healed, as it always usually was.

'What happened?' I also wanted to know who that man was, why I felt awfully sick, and why I felt so very exhausted.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Called a voice.

The voice was familiar, it took awhile to finally recall it, many names seemed to blur in my head which caused it to hurt so much more, everything seemed to have three versions. I closed my eyes, then reopened them.

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

"...M-Myouga?" I asked softly.

His image seemed blurry, but I was able to see a tiny creature with chubby and tiny wings bouncing up and down, waving his arms energitically, trying to get my attention.

"Sesshomaru-sama, do you have any idea what is happening?" He asked quickly, taking a high jump and floating on my shoulder.

"That's what I want to know" I replied, though my voice sounded distant and I felt like vomiting.

"Don't you remember? Do you even know that man's name? Do you even remember what you told him?" He sounded so frantic. To be honest, it scared me, though I refused to let it show and remained calm.

"No, I can't seem to recall that, though I feel so ill..."

"Oh no..." Myouga placed his head in his hands "This is terrible. He must've drugged you or gave you too much sake, or maybe both. This man is only out for power! You are a powerful being, he has the power to absorb power, and he has completely absorbed other celestial beings! He's looking for the Shikon no Tama, and with what you told him while you were drunk, you gave him plenty of information and clues! And now you cannot just go fight him!"

"Why not?" I demanded.

"Because he has already absorbed most of your power, most likely! Now he is much stronger than you, since he had stolen your power!"

That was probably one of the worst things I could hear. I hated the feeling of helplessness and feeling weak, but it was too late, and now I had the awful feeling of feeling stupid.

"You must leave as soon as possible, but please remember to never use our language unless you are given instructions to, it's too dangerous."

"Then how will I even be able to communicate?"

Myouga quickly pulled a little quill out of his pocket "Well, you can write..." he began drawing these three pictures on the floor, then when he was done, he looked up "See? That is how you write your name. It says 'Sesshomaru', though I don't believe we have time to learn anything else. Perhaps the kami will grant you the ability to use the mortal's tongue after you've associated with the mortals a little more, but for now, maybe you aren't supposed to communicate...In any case, you know the spell to hide your wings, get out of here as soon as possible, and use it"

"Oh, that will not be necessary" Cooed a voice from behind us.

I suddenly heard a cry of pain, and I widened my eyes when I recognized my own voice hosting it, I was the one who was making the sound.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Myouga yelled, but for what...?

That's when I felt something warm, sticky, and wet run down my back. Blood...And I then realized what happened. The power-lusting bastard from earlier had just sliced off my wings!

* * *

_(AN/: I am ending the narrating thing, and I'm going to do third person now or else I'd have end the chapter here)_

The man _(AN/: Naraku obviously, I know it, you know it, we know it, but they don't know it, so shhh)_ simply watched the two now dead wings fall to the floor, then smirked over at Sesshomaru.

"Well now," Naraku began, sounding so sickeningly amused as he held up his bloody claws which he had just used "It seems that you will be even weaker than before. Though, you still have much power in you, and it will be all mine..."

"Sesshomaru-sama, you need to find a way out!" Myouga shouted out the obvious, starting to hide behind the futon bed.

Sesshomaru inhaled a shaky breath, trying to find strength to stand. It hurt, it was so very painful. In fact, he was lucky to be alive. Though, at least his wings were sliced off, not plucked off which was the main reason he was alive, but it hurt so much worse than it would have even if his arm were cut off.

Naraku suddenly darted his eyes to Myouga and glared fiercely. The little creature gulped and was suddenly gone in a poof of white.

Sesshomaru was in too much pain to care that Myouga had left. The coward had only been useful for the first five minutes anyway.

Naraku had came forward and just punched Sesshomaru in the gut, which made him only grunt this time and shut his eyes, forcing himself to block out the pain even though it was extremely difficult.

Sesshomaru felt the stinging pain of being scratched in the arm, in both arms and felt himself fall to the ground, though before he could get up again, Naraku had grabbed him up by the neck and slammed him up against the nearest stone wall. Even though that hurt terribly, Sesshomaru bit his tongue to keep from making any noise, and made his face look totally emotionless, not saying a word, though he just stared at Naraku expressionlessly.

Naraku chuckled "No sign of fear, huh?" his reply was just emotionless and unfocused golden eyes eyeing him oddly when he started moving closer.

Sesshomaru's eyes went from the expression-lacking state to totally wide the moment Naraku placed his disgusting lips over Sesshomaru's own. This was not only wrong, it was disgusting, despicable, and it made Sesshomaru just want to vomit and vomit again, it was simply gross!

Sesshomaru grabbed onto any bit of power he could find within himself. A green poison came out of his nails and struck Naraku in the stomach, successfully pushing the disgusting psycho creep away.

It was odd, but the moment that happened, everything seemed to flash by like a dream. And suddenly, Sesshomaru was no longer in the castle, but rather outside in a forest. The fresh air smelled like heaven compared to the castle's foul stench. The dark castle was no where in sight.

It was morning, the sun had yet to rise. He felt a trickle of blood come out of his bottom lip, Naraku had probably bit him there, it really was disgusting, though he didn't vomit. Instead, his knees felt weak and he collapsed face-first in the cold snow. Though he hadn't expected to dream, but the dream became a nightmare with memories of the earlier painful moments in Naraku's castle.

* * *

_(AN/: Alright, just a quick authors note for the middle of this chapter. **That really gross kiss wasn't my idea**. My friend Eri has recently been into yuri and yaoi, and when I started this fanfic and came to this part, I was stuck on it, and she gave me the idea to make this oddly one-sided yaoi-ish scene. She didn't write it since she doesn't do it right, only reads. I wrote it, but I really didn't want to so it didn't have much detail, thank goodness. I myself thought it was gross, considering I'm not into yaoi at all. Oh yeah, and I made Myouga disappear because I couldn't think of anything else to do with him, and this chapter may seem like things are passing by quickly, I don't have much time. Ohh, and one more thing, Sesshomaru does not know Naraku's name or who he is, I just wrote Naraku so many times cause it beats typing up 'the man' over and over again, then things get confusing...so yeah...I'll shut up for now)  
_

* * *

Sesshomaru heard a song being song by a rather beautiful voice and felt like he was being carried somewhere. His eyes cracked open and he only found his chin resting on a shoulder. There was black hair in his vision, though that was all he saw and he closed his eyes again and fell asleep.

More nightmares came, though he felt the warmth of someone's hand holding his through it all, so it wasn't that frightening at all.

When he woke up again, he found himself laying on a futon bed, looking at a white roof.

"Oh, you're awake!" A voice exclaimed.

Sesshomaru's eyes darted over to the sound of the voice and saw a girl about seventeen smiling brightly at him. He was feeling much better than before, quite rested, yet he did not feel as strong as he normally did. Probably because of the psycho man from earlier. He really had lost much of his power. To be honest, he was really hoping that this had all been a big nightmare.

Seeing the girl's smile reminded him of yesterday? Or was it only earlier today? Or was it even two days ago? Whatever, that small detail did not matter at the moment. In flash of white, Sesshomaru rushed to the other side of the room.

"What's wrong?" The girl asked with a frown and a slightly nervous tone in her voice. She got off her chair and began to walk towards him.

Sesshomaru immediantly took a step back. He didn't know what went on in the brains of mortal girls, but he wasn't about to take chances again. The girl stopped walking.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you"

_"You do not have to be afraid, I will not harm you"_

The words were practically the same thing. And they were said in the same tone as well.

A knocking sound came from the door.

Sesshomaru turned his head towards the door in time to see a little girl that looked like a mini-version of the one he woke up to see.

"Kagome-neesan!" The small girl cried, running to the seventeen year old girl known as Kagome.

_'Kagome?'_ Sesshomaru thought with surprise. A feeling of relief washed over him, and he even let it cross his face, somehow he had found the person he was looking for. He did not know how exactly, but he had.

"Some of the servants told Rin that you would be in here! They said that you helped a strange man and-Oh, is that him? Rin thinks he looks like an angel, can we keep him, Onee-san?"

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. Keep him?

Kagome laughed "I don't know, Rin-chan. He may need to get home. He's just here so we can heal him."

_'I'll be here much longer than you think'_

The girl called Rin looked down, then brightened all of a sudden "Oh! But I know! Rin will bring him some flowers. I'm sure he will like them."

"Alright, Rin, you go do that"

Rin smiled hugely and looked back at Sesshomaru "Goodbye!"

Sesshomaru smiled softly at her. She was one of the people you couldn't help but smile at, such a cheerful little girl.

Rin's own smile brightened when she saw Sesshomaru's and with that, she left the room.

Sesshomaru looked back at Kagome. His look of relief that he didn't have to go searching high and low for her was still on his face.

"Hey, do you have a name?"

He remembered what Myouga said about not using his own language. It was odd, but he could understand mortals, he just couldn't speak their language. He wasn't blessed with the ability yet. And besides, using his language could make similar situations like the psychopath from earlier appearing happen again, maybe not as bad, but Sesshomaru didn't want to go through that again. So, without saying anything, he just stared at her.

"Hellooo? Can you understand me?"

Sesshomaru nodded, maybe he could use something like this. He wouldn't be saying anything, but it would make him seem mute, right?

"Can you speak?"

He only stared at Kagome blankly.

"I'll take that as a no" Kagome sounded really disappointed, but she sighed and continued "Okay...do you have a name?"

Nope, he wasn't going to say anything, though he nodded in the same way as before.

"What is it?" She asked.

Sesshomaru remained silent.

"Oh...oh right!" Kagome walked over to a desk and grabbed a quill and piece of paper, then handed them over to Sesshomaru "You can write, can't you?"

Sesshomaru took the paper. He only knew how to write his name, thanks to Myouga, and was even surprised himself that he recalled the pictures, he drew them on the yellowish parchment, then handed it back to Kagome.

Kagome's eyes scanned it "Sesshomaru...Your name is Sesshomaru?"

Again, Sesshomaru nodded.

"All right...So where did you come from?"

He didn't know how to write, and he wasn't going to tell her, so when she handed him the paper, he didn't take it.

"Look, I only want to know where you come from so I can tell my father, and we can help you get home."

_'That would be impossible for you'_

"Nevermind..." She sighed "I can't see the big deal...do you no longer understand me or something?" when he still gave no response, she continued "Okay...Well, my name is Kagome, I am the princess of the eastern lands, and daughter to Lord Higurashi"

Kagome did a curtsy "There's a bathing room not to far from here. I can ask a servant to take you there...That is, if you would like a bath?"

_'That would actually be nice...'_ He nodded. Kagome smiled faintly and led him outside.

* * *

He had taken the bandages off his arms and back which some healer who worked for Kagome had apparently put there, then he washed the dried blood around the large oval scars on his back where his wings used to be. There was some skin still there, though it felt too sensitive to try taking off or even touching, though he cleaned the wound out a little more.

A servant had left a plain simple white kimono around the area where Sesshomaru had been bathing. The water wasn't so heated, but it didn't really matter.

Soon though, Sesshomaru had left the large hot springs-like tub and dressed in the kimono the servant left. It felt just a little big, but it felt comfortable enough.

Though, the moment he finally finished, he noticed something green at the corner of his eye.

Slowly, he turned his head towards the green thing to see a toad creature who was wearing a small brown kimono was staring at him in surprise. He sighed and turned to leave, when suddenly, in the most annoying voice ever, the green thing began shouting something like loud annoying praises.

The creature's eyes lit up with...stars? And he just wouldn't shut up.

Sesshomaru decided that he just needed to leave the room and the creature would be silent, perhaps...hopefully.

But apparently not.

It followed him! Everywhere! He was trying to locate Kagome's scent wherever she was, but the thing was right on his heels. Finally, so annoyed, Sesshomaru just whacked the creature over the head. Maybe it would finally be quiet.

But it didn't.

"HELLOOOOOO?" The toad yelled "WHAT IS YOUR NAAMEEE?"

Violence did nothing for it, didn't it? Because Sesshomaru ended up punching it like several more times, and yet the toad still remained following.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME, GREAT ONE? PLEASE AT LEAST TELL ME! I MUST KNOOOW!"

Finally, he caught Kagome's autumn-like scent and followed it into a room that was filled with many different books, scrolls, and other things. A library, no doubt.

Kagome was talking to Rin and she looked up when Sesshomaru entered.

"Oh hello!" She greeted warmly, though Sesshomaru simply in one of the chairs the moment that the toad followed as well and came waddling in.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths and kept telling himself to not kill the toad.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" The toad shouted with closed eyes and his beaky mouth opened wide.

"Jakken, shut up, and leave him alone" Kagome snapped angrily, her eyes were widened more than usual as Jakken continued ignoring her and shouting so very loud.

"What is wrong with Jakken?"

"I...don't know..."

Jakken continued shouting.

Sesshomaru's eye twitched 'I swear, if he doesn't shut up right now, he won't get to see the next minute'

"His name is Sesshomaru" Kagome said, unknowingly saving the toad's life.

Jakken finally stopped shouting "Um...Sesshomaru?" his beaked mouth opened once more and he was about to start shouting, but Kagome thankfully threw a pillow at him and shoved him out of the room. He was still there and yelling, though after about a minute or two, he finally gave up and left.

"So, you're name is Sesshomaru?" The girl known as Rin piped, running towards Sesshomaru.

"Hn"

"Rin is Rin, I'm Kagome-neesan's sister. Here. Rin made this for Sesshomaru"

Sesshomaru took the picture and examined it.

"Are you an angel?"

Sesshomaru looked up in surprise. She couldn't have figured it all out that easily, could she?

"Mommy used to tell Rin stories about angels...you look like one...are you?"

He smiled then. A child's innocence, that's all it was, he ruffled her hair and Rin giggled. The girl then just skipped out of the library.

Then there was a silence for a few moments.

"You know," Kagome spoke up "I wonder who did that to you. You were really wounded earlier. I mean, your wounds seem pretty much healed. Are you a youkai or something?"

Sesshomaru looked down at the floor. He didn't exactly want to be reminded. His eyes slid to Kagome, then looked back at the floor.

"What...what are you?"

Sesshomaru felt a smile crack on his lips. He really wasn't used to smiling this much, but he also didn't expect to be accepted so easily and treated this nicely by people he did not even know.

Faint voices came from behind the door, then it opened.

"Kagome, what's that?" A girl who looked similar to Kagome, but had longer straight hair instead.

"Oh, that's Sesshomaru. He's the person I saved earlier. Didn't some of the servants tell you?"

"Wow really?" Souta said, walking over to Sesshomaru and begun to circle him "He looks interesting...Is he a youkai?"

"I don't know"

"Are you a youkai?" Souta asked Sesshomaru, leaning closer. Sesshomaru stared at the boy, not even bothering to try to give an answer.

"He's apparently mute"

"He is not a servant, is he?" The other girl demanded, Sesshomaru was beginning to not like this princess.

"No, of course not" Kagome answered.

"Then why is there a demon under the same roof I am under if he is not a servant?"

Sesshomaru disliked her. That was official.

"Because he was hurt and needed help, so I helped him"

"You should have left him there"

"Why?" Kagome demanded in anger.

"Uh-oh..." Souta mumbled. Sesshomaru silently agreed with Souta, but didn't look at him and kept his eyes on Kagome.

"Demons are nothing but filth. Perhaps this is why you were never accepted in becoming a priestess"

"No, I didn't become a priestess because I didn't want to, that's all. Besides, I'm not even sure if he is a demon. His aura seems really pure"

"Of course he is" The other princess laughed, though it lacked humor "What else would he be? A monk? An angel or something...?"

"Well Maybe!"

"Pathetic..." She simply turned and walked out of the room.

"Hey, I think I'm just going to go find Rin." The boy spoke up "Oh, and Kagome? I believe father's coming back from the north tomorrow, by the way..."

"Uh-huh"

Souta left, and Kagome and Sesshomaru were alone once again.

Sesshomaru looked down at the carnation picture. He knew a certain trick to make the flower real and only stared at the drawing as he listened to Kagome's voice.

"Kikyo can be mean...She doesn't like youkai. I don't know why, I don't even think she has a reason. Well, my father's coming home tomorrow. I wonder if he's got that treaty with Lord Naraku, I hope we don't stay enemies, whenever Naraku attacks, it's always full of demons here, attacking everywhere...quite annoying really...Maybe when we're allies, all will be peaceful, since we're already allies with the main south and west kingdoms as well...Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru looked up.

"I'm going to be going now. You can stay here and read if you'd like, or just go back to your room. Alright?"

"Hn" He'd probably just go back to his room, seeing as he didn't read this language.

Kagome sighed and left.

* * *

**_I think I wrote the first part really really badly._**

**_I will be stopping here for tonight. I would've had this chapter up earlier but Christmas shopping and all that was kinda in the way. I hope this chapter was too bad. Oh, and I want to thank BMalone93 for answering my question! Thank you!:D And I was wondering if someone could answer another question I have...Is there a way to save those documents that get deleted?_**

**_Answer for riddle: Envelope_**

**_Alright, bye and thank you Eri for your little bit of help!:) _**

**_-Katherine_**


	7. Through his eyes, part II

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Rumiko Takahashi, I never was and never will be.

Okay, here is the next chapter for Junsuina Ai.

Oh, and just to let you know, the kiss from the last chapter is something I would normally never EVER do, that happens when I'm annoyed because I am stuck on a chapter part and my friend, who is a yaoi-fan, gives me 'help', that won't happen again, I hope no one hates me, even though it was purposely supposed to be gross because I hate yaoi and I agreed to do it because I hate Naraku so much, it's like how we all hate spoiled brats, and Kikyo-bashers hate Kikyo, so they make Kikyo a spoiled brat. That's all I'm going to say for now...

I have another riddle.

_What word becomes shorter when you add two letters?_

_Answer at the chapter's end._

_

* * *

_It was a simple flower trick. The picture was already done anyway. No need to do any imagining.

Now Sesshomaru held a real white carnation and placed the now blank piece of paper under a pillow, it would probably freak Kagome when she came in here and noticed the picture Rin drew was blank.

He knew she was coming, he caught her scent drawing closer to this room, along with the scent of food. Speaking of scents, the smell of the white carnation smelt like...the same as Kagome's natural scent. Pure, autumn and spring air...

A knock was heard on the door, though he didn't really get up to open it.

The door opened just a few seconds later and in walked Kagome.

"Ummm...Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru looked up when Kagome placed a tray of chicken broth on the night table by his bed.

There was a few moments of silence.

"Hey, where did you get that?"

_'Get what?'_

"I mean, it's winter!" She exclaimed "How did you get a flower in the middle of winter?"

Right, he had forgotten about winter and flowers. It seemed like such a small thing in comparison to what had been happening recently. Though, he wouldn't be able to answer, and he'd prefer it if Kagome just didn't ask these questions. So without further thought, Sesshomaru handed the flower to Kagome. He knew girls liked flowers, Kagome was so obviously a girl, so...

Kagome looked at Sesshomaru, then at the flower, and then she repeated this action, before she finally, slowly and gently, took the flower out of Sesshomaru's hand.

"Ummm...Thanks, I guess..." She brought the carnation up to her nose and inhaled the scent. A smile graced her lips, and as he watched her, Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile as well as a warmth was filled inside him.

Kagome looked up from her flower and gazed at Sesshomaru for a few seconds while her cheeks turned red, then she stared at the floor.

"I think I'll go put this flower in water" She turned around and quickly left the room.

Sesshomaru watched her leave before eyeing the soup that she had brought for him. He tasted it, then made a face that he would never normally allow someone to see, it tasted terrible! Or maybe it was just him. Human food just wasn't that great tasting in his opinion. He placed the spoon back in the bowl and leaned back, closing his eyes. He was still a little tired, and just wanted to rest a little more.

A little later, he heard a loud gasp and his eyes shout open, but when he did, all he saw was Kagome blushing and then there was some other person who had silver hair with dog ears and was dressed in red.

"Where did you come from?" Kagome asked. Sesshomaru closed his eyes again, pretending to be sleeping.

"The window" Came the reply from the person who Sesshomaru had yet to learn their name "I caught your scent coming from this room, and someone else's too. I wonder why you're here-Oh, who the hell is this guy supposed to be...?"

"Oh, just someone I found wounded in the forest this morning"

Sesshomaru mentally frowned at the way she said that. _Just someone,_ huh?

"He's mute though."

"Ah, so he's dumb."

He felt like glaring at the way those words sounded, but kept his eyes closed.

"Is he deaf too?"

"No, just mute...So how are you doing?"

"Just fine."

"Oh, I see..."

Sesshomaru detected a lot of disappointment in Kagome's voice and cracked his eyes open a little to see her glance at the ground, some embarrassment still on her face, but it was quickly disappearing.

"Oh, don't be so disappointed" The male in red said, placing his hand on Kagome's cheek. This was beginning to really irritate Sesshomaru more than he thought it would.

Kagome gasped softly as the red guy started leaning his face closer to hers. Sesshomaru widened his eyes, they were going to _kiss_, in front of _him_? It was disrespectful, he decided, though it was mainly the fact that this person was about to kiss Kagome that made him more annoyed than just some couple kissing in front of him.

Sesshomaru reached over to the soup, grabbed the spoon and threw it with perfect aim at the back of the man dressed in red's head. He then closed his eyes quickly.

"OW!"

Sesshomaru's lips twitched, but he managed to keep a straight face for now.

"Huh?" Kagome sounded confused.

The sound of the spoon hitting the ground was heard, and Sesshomaru began to feel Kagome's eyes on him, as well as Inuyasha's. His lips twitched again, but it soon developed into a tiny smile that he was unable to hold back.

"That bastard..." The male growled.

Sesshomaru opened his eyes, purposely feigning innocence, he heard Kagome giggling and glanced at her, then her happy expression turned into shock.

"Wait Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. So Inuyasha is this person's name... "This is Sesshomaru's room for now, don't you think it was kind of rude to ummm...do what we almost did right in front of him? Maybe he was offended!"

"Sesshomaru, huh? That's the bastard's name? Keh, I don't give a damn if this is his room! I'll kill him!"

Sesshomaru was already prepared to move out of the way. He was expecting this, strangely, and when Inuyasha lunged, he jumped off the futon and zipped out of the way to the other side of the room. Inuyasha growled and went after him, clawing at him, though Sesshomaru leaned back through different angels, dodging each attack, and smirked. Inuyasha wasn't that hard to fight, quite easily actually, though it looked humorous at how serious Inuyasha seemed to be taking this. But Inuyasha was easy to fight and predictable, seeing as he let all his emotions on his face, so it didn't feel more than a little game to Sesshomaru.

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" Inuyasha's shout was sounded, though Sesshomaru saw three golden flashes and moved out of the way just in time as it hit the futon bed again, slicing the bed in half and making the feathers from the pillows fly up.

Sesshomaru noticed sparks suddenly fly from Kagome's direction and attach themselves around Inuyasha's neck. Inuyasha paused to look at them, but then kept fighting. All was loud, until...

"SIT BOY!" Kagome screamed.

Inuyasha crashed to the ground and Sesshomaru looked at Kagome curiously.

There was a few moments of silence, and Inuyasha pulled his head from the ground, his eyes flashing with anger.

"WHAT THE HELL, KAGOME?"

"I'm really sorry, Inuyasha, but I don't think a good hostess lets her guests kill each other, I had to stop you in some way"

Inuyasha stood up, glaring, but he seemed sad, as Sesshomaru observed.

"I get it..." he muttered with his ears flattening on his head "You don't need me here, you've got your mute boy!"

"No, wait, Inuyasha! It's not like that!" Kagome cried "Why don't you stay for dinner?"

Sesshomaru held back from smiling or laughing at how random that sounded. First, she sounded frantic, and suddenly, her voice sound all calm and casual.

"Whatever" And he left, letting the door slam behind him.

Kagome plopped to the floor and rubbed her temples "Sesshomaru, WHYYY?"

Sesshomaru only felt a little guilty, but of all the places to kiss, why kiss in front of him? Like he wasn't even there? So that ended up taking away the guilty feeling.

"This room is a disaster" She moaned, looking over all the destroyed furniture. The nice furniture...And then she randomly started playing with the feathers on the floor, Sesshomaru stared at her as she did this. Picked the feathers up, then dropped them, repeating it over and over again.

Then, she just stopped and stood up again.

"Dinner is going to be done soon. I think you should start getting ready"

She left after that so Sesshomaru begun to get ready.

* * *

Different foods were set around the table, though Sesshomaru had no appetite for them, but he needed to force himself to eat it, otherwise they'd all think something was wrong. After Kikyo said "Itadakimasu", he gave himself a tiny portion of rice without the curry, he didn't need to eat that much anyway.

So he ended up glancing up everyone once in a while to see if anyone was watching, and if they weren't, he would eat the stuff too quickly, and swallow it so he wouldn't be able to taste it. Though when someone was watching every now and then, he'd force himself to eat slowly and use all his self-control to not make faces.

Finally, Inuyasha said "Gochisousama deshita" and apparently dinner was over at last.

Sesshomaru didn't miss the bright smile Kagome gave Inuyasha, and felt a spark of annoyance, which was odd to feel for something simple like a smile.

And then the cooks came to clear the dishes.

* * *

Sesshomaru was again back in his room, leaning against the wall as he examined the mess. Everything was all destroyed...everything! Except the ground and all. His eyes closed for just a few seconds.

He caught Kagome's scent and when he heard her walk in, he opened his eyes and slid them towards her.

"Come on, Sesshomaru. We'll have to move you to another room tonight, alright?"

_'She's not angry about this?'_ He was surprised. Her tone said: _oh, it's messy, big deal!_

He nodded his head slowly and walked towards her. She smiled at him, it was a small smile, but it gave him a very warm feeling. She led him through the halls until the finally stopped at another room. It was much like the last one.

"Well. There you go. Hopefully, if you and Inuyasha ever get into another fight, it won't destroy this room too. I'll tell a servant to fix up the last room before father comes home tomorrow."

Kagome was acting as if a child spilled water, and she was being all nice so the child wouldn't feel bad. The same tone...

Sesshomaru silently sat down on the futon bed, then Kagome turned to leave, but he didn't want her to. He somehow already knew that she was the one who brought him here, and it was because of her hand holding his that the nightmares lessened earlier. Before Sesshomaru could think much about it, his hand reached out and grabbed hers.

"Huh?"

He was just realizing what he did, and almost wanted to take it back, but not really. No, he wanted her to stay and let it express in his eyes.

"Do you...do you want me to stay?"

"Mm-hm..." He moved to the side of the bed to make room for her. Kagome's cheeks colored, and it made her look even prettier than before.

"Okay..." Her blush deepened as she came in beside him.

As Sesshomaru began to drift off, he felt her hand hold his and he also held hers, before his eyes closed and he fell into a peacefully dreamless sleep.

* * *

**SO that is the end of chapter 3 in Sesshomaru's POV.**

**Later, and Merry Christmas!**

**-Katherine AKA Peter Pan!**

**P.S. Do you think I should change my username to Peter Pan? I can't decide if I should or not. If it's not too much trouble, please include the answer in a review. In case you wondering, Peter Pan is one of my nicknames.**


	8. Through his eyes, part III

**Disclaimer:** I do not own this series, no matter how much I'd like to.

I just realized I did not put the answer to the riddle on the last chapter. Heheh...Well, the answer is:

**SHORT**

I would've updated sooner, but my mom got really sick and had to go to the hospital, when she came back, she had antibiotics that were like one of the strongest you could get, and we had to keep checking back on her to see if she was still breathing. Then, on Christmas Eve, I was baking almost the entire day and when that was done, I really didn't feel like writing. Then, on Christmas day, star wars came on!:D I love those movies and so I watched all of them. Then it was one of my friend's birthday and then I just wanted a small break from writing. That's all...**  
**

And I have another riddle!

_What word changes gender by only adding an "S"_

_Answer at the end of chapter (If I can remember)._

_

* * *

_

Sesshomaru awoke, but couldn't get up, seeing as Kagome had a surprisingly strong grip on him_, _if he had moved, he'd be waking her up, so he ended up staying like how he was for who knows how long. He thought about trying to get information about the Shikon no Tama, though he still did not have a way to communicate yet. Besides, he had only spent a day here, though it seemed like so much longer.

Quite a while later, Kagome stirred and opened her eyes. A few seconds of nothing passed, then Kagome stiffened and her face turned bright red. More minutes later, she looked at him straight in the eye.

"Heh...Um...Good Morning?"

Sesshomaru only stared at her, it was funny how she changed so quickly.

The red on her face became brighter and she suddenly buried her face in the mattress and began shaking her head. What was she doing? He held himself back from laughing, though a small smile appeared on his lips.

Kagome froze from shaking her head and lifted her head up again and stared at Sesshomaru, her lips parting as she stared.

A few moments later, the corners of her lips twitched and a full smile lighted up her face and she started giggling. Over what? She was kind of strange...

When she was done giggling, she cleared her throat and began to speak "Er...we need to, uh, go to town today to, ummm...get you some clothing from the market soon"

Sesshomaru nodded in silent reply.

Kagome sat up and hopped off the bed, just a pink flush on her cheeks that actually made her look quite pretty.

"See you later" She said, not turning around as she opened the door and exited the room.

Sesshomaru then started to dress himself in one of the loose fitting kimono's that were placed inside the guestroom. When he finished, he heard Kagome's voice shout faintly:

_"FATHER!"_

A little while later, Rin's voice was heard:

_"DADDY!"_

So their father was back again. He wondered what kind of person Kagome's father was.

A few minutes later, Sesshomaru was walking through the hall, he heard the voices of Kagome's other two siblings greeting their father, but he did not pay much attention to them and found the long staircase, and begun to walk down normally with his eyes on the floor.

When he was down, he looked up to see the family looking at him.

"Oh, you must be the strange man Rin was telling me about. A pleasure to meet you" he held out his hand and waited.

Sesshomaru stared at the hand. What was he supposed to do? What was the hand supposed to mean? He looked up and stared right into the eyes of the lord. His eyes looked almost...dead?

Sesshomaru's gaze became curious _'How odd'_

"Hnn..." Kagome's father brought his hand back to his side and turned around "Won't you come join us for breakfast, young man?" his eyes found Kagome's "Does he have a name?"

"Sesshomaru"

"Sesshomaru. Alright then, Sesshomaru, come join us"

Sesshomaru faked a smile, not that they would know since they barely even knew him. Truth be told, he was only following because it was polite, he really was not looking forward to eating more human food.

And now they were back at the table, eating human food.

Kikyo was the first to speak up "So, are you going to tell us about your meeting with Lord Naraku?"

"Ah, yes..." Their father cleared his throat "Kagome...?"

"Um...yes?"

"Kagome, when I had asked to call it truce with Lord Naraku, he agreed, but only if..." His voice trailed off.

_'If?'_

"If...?" Kagome whispered anxiously.

"If you become his queen"

Sesshomaru's eyes widened. What? The room was filled with silence.

_**"WHAT?"**_ Kagome cried out "Why can't he marry Kikyo? She's older, stronger, and more...ugh...more prettier!"

Yes, why couldn't this Naraku person marry Kikyo? Sesshomaru was thinking something along those lines. Not that he agreed that Kikyo was prettier than Kagome, but still, Kikyo was older, and wasn't the eldest supposed to be married first? Something was definitely wrong...Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Kagome's father. Something was wrong with that man as well...but before he could really place it down, Lord Higurashi began to speak again.

"Because...For reasons he chose to keep to himself, he had wanted to marry you instead of Kikyo. Now, we need this alliance, did you not see what happened last time Naraku attacked? The castle had almost been overthrown. The place was overwhelmed with demons, Naraku is too strong. I fear if we reject this now, he would only attack even more"

Sesshomaru frowned. Somehow...Kagome's father just didn't seem that worried or sad. Something was off here...Why didn't anyone else notice this?

...Maybe because Kagome was so very shocked by the extremely sudden news and everyone else was watching Kagome's shocked expressions while their father continued eating, suddenly paying extra attention to his meal...or maybe this was how their father always acted.

Sesshomaru stared at Kagome as the news continued to sink in on her. A few moment later, she lifted her eyes, glancing at each of her siblings, then her eyes locked with Sesshomaru's.

Something else about this whole marriage thing made Sesshomaru more upset than he thought he'd be. He even felt anger towards Lord Higurashi. Why wouldn't he? The man didn't seem so worried about his daughter and just didn't seem to be noticing the deep sadness in Kagome's eyes.

Kagome looked back at her food and sighed deeply "May I be excused?" they were polite words, but her voice sounded monotoned.

"You may" Her father answered without looking up. Sesshomaru shot the lord a glare, though it went unnoticed by everyone.

Kagome left the table, out of the dining room.

Minutes after she left, Sesshomaru sat up off the cushion.

Lord Higurashi looked up and opened his mouth to say something, but Sesshomaru sent him such a fierce glare that went totally noticed by everyone, his piercing golden gaze shut the lord's mouth immediately.

After that, he simply left the dining room and entered the room where the high staircase was, he began to ascent the stairs.

When that was done, he remembered the way to Kagome's room and soon found himself standing right outside her double doors. A faint singing was heard from beyond them, but it was far too silent to hear what she was saying.

Sesshomaru then knocked on the door.

"Enter" Came the quiet response in her soft voice.

The door creaked open and Sesshomaru stepped inside. He made his way over to her beside, thinking about what to do here. It wasn't as if he could give her any comfort, maybe it was just the odd want to be near her.

Kagome was laying flat on the bed, then sat up and looked at him.

"Oh hello, Sesshomaru" She sounded cheerful, but Sesshomaru could tell it was faked "We still need to go to town to get you some clothing. I mean you can't always stay walking around the house in that" she motioned to his current clothing.

"Hm"

"Say...would you like to go now? I mean, there's nothing better to do, so..."

"Hn" His head tipped down without really thinking about anything except the lingering sadness in her eyes that stayed even as she forced a so obviously fake smile.

"Alright, let's go then"

* * *

The walk was very silent. Sesshomaru often stole glances at Kagome to watch her changing expressions. She looked confused on moment, then angry, then a smile touched her lips, but soon turned angry again.

"So..." She began to talk, and he turned his attention to her voice without looking at her "What do you think of Naraku so far, Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru didn't think too well of Naraku before, but now the thought of him marrying and touching Kagome in any way made him really angry. He was certain that Kagome would be able to read his expression now if he looked at her so he kept his eyes off her for now.

"No comment, huh?" She sighed, her gaze left him and looked back at the road at the same moment that Sesshomaru clenched his fist, getting carried away in his thoughts.

And so another silence came again...

"Do you want to play a game?" Kagome spoke up all of a sudden.

_'Nothing better to do...'_ "Hmm..."

"Okay!" She exclaimed, understanding his tone "Let's play...Onigokko!"

That sounded like something to do with a demon. Sesshomaru blinked a couple times "Huh?"

Kagome seemed shocked "You don't know Onigokko?"

_'If I did, wouldn't we be playing it?'_

"Alright then...Onigokko is a game where...uh, let's just say I have to chase you, if I catch you, you're tagged, then you have to chase me and tag me, and it just goes on and on...So, you get it?"

That was simple enough. He nodded, substituting the nod for a yes.

Kagome smiled truly and then tapped his shoulder "You're it!" she exclaimed, then ran away, probably as fast as she could. Her laughter was heard, echoing throughout the area.

He stopped to listen to it. It was real, she seemed to have already gotten her mind off everything.

Sesshomaru easily caught up with her and casually walked behind her, though she didn't seem to notice, though she was running really slow now and breathing quickly. Her cheeks and nose were flushed from the cold and running, but she kept going, completely unaware that her companion wasn't even trying to catch her and rather just watching her try to run away.

Finally she stopped, then looked around, but just didn't look behind her where Sesshomaru was standing.

"Hello? Sesshomaru? Where-"

At that moment, he only clamped his hand over her mouth from behind. Her eyes widened and her face turned pale white as a ghost, and she stiffly froze. He smirked at her terrified look.

Her eyes darted behind her, and then color returned to the princess's face. He took his hand off her mouth and she glared.

"You don't have to scare me like that. So, I guess I'm tagged now..." Her eyes shut closed and an innocent smile fell in place on her lips, she took in a deep breath, though Sesshomaru was already moving at top speed to a large tree that seemed like a good stopping place which was where a forest opened.

Even with the distance, Sesshomaru could see the poor girl's surprised face.

She eventually caught up with him.

"You're...good...at this..." She weakly complimented as she began to breathe in and out "Let's stop now..."

_'Yes'_ "Hn"

"Well, we're almost there" She touched the tree that Sesshomaru was waiting by "This is the Tree of Ages, by the way. It's five hundred years old...This tree usually helps me find my way to the village, come on!"

He was surprised a little when she unexpectedly grabbed his hand and pulled him along. When they broke through the snowy forest, a lighted village was seen down the hill. Kagome led him by the hand.

* * *

Kagome was picking out many different kimonos, along with some other stuff like perfumes for herself, though she only handed Sesshomaru the kimonos.

The last one she picked out was white with a hexagon and sakura pattern. And to be honest, Sesshomaru liked this one more than the rest.

"Do you think this is enough?" She asked, then answered her own question "I guess it's enough for now"

Sesshomaru only nodded, almost instinctively.

"Kagome-chan!" The voice was a female's, deeper than Kagome's own, but she sounded young.

Kagome was suddenly enveloped in a hug.

"Sango-chan!" Kagome exclaimed, hugging the other female back.

They started up a short conversation then. Although Sesshomaru watched, he wasn't really paying much attention, he occasionally drifted in and out of it, thinking about the Shikon no Tama. Kagome didn't seem like she knew much about it, she never mentioned it, and just didn't seem like the kind of person with that information.

"Hey, who's this?"

"This is Sesshomaru. Sango, Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru, Sango"

"Um...Nice to meet you?"

Sesshomaru looked at her blankly. He wasn't going to talk, if he didn't talk to Kagome, he wasn't going to talk with this Sango person.

"Nice to meet you?"

"He doesn't speak" Kagome said, and Sesshomaru mentally thanked her.

"Oh...oh, my apologies" She didn't sound all that sincere, but Sesshomaru did not really care so much.

"So where's Miroku?" Kagome asked then, and Sesshomaru once again drifted out of the conversation.

Where would the Shikon be at? Maybe one of Kagome's sister Kikyo knew, or her father...Maybe a servant? The father seemed like the most reasonable one, considering how strange the lord seemed. Sesshomaru continued pondering over this, barely aware of everything even as he followed Kagome when she told him to _"come on"_.

They were in a hut, Sesshomaru knew that, whatever was going on, he wasn't paying attention, all he knew was that Kagome kept constantly introducing him to many different people who were Sango's mother, Sango's brothers, and then they were suddenly going to spend the night here.

But he still hadn't had a single clue on where the Shikon no Tama could be. A hint would've been nice, except he only knew to stay with Kagome and all the questions would be answered, though he was only getting more questions.

* * *

**I'm stopping there now. I hope things didn't pass by too fast.  
**

**The riddle's answer is: _Princes _(Yay! I remembered!)**

**Oh, and I a question that I still need to be answered: Is there a way to save those documents after they automatically delete when their life-span runs out? _  
_**

**And another thing: I am not going to update until I get at least ten reviews. I don't want them quickly, and that's the reason I'm saying this so I can think up the next chapter because I've no clue where to go from there...Unless someone wants to give me ideas? And to be honest, I rarely check my email, by the way...**

**Okay that's all.**

**By now!**

**- Peter Pan**


	9. Servant

**_Disclaimer: I do not own this series, if I did...*insert long long message about what would happen if I owned this here*_**

**Hey everybody! I'm not going to put up riddles for now, I'm out of good ones...The last one about the gender switch, I made up, so...**

**I'm out of ideas, so I'm just writing this with whatever words come to my head, without editing...But I did plan one thing! Instead of making the days pass by like one day each two or three chapters, I'm just going to jump ahead a little so I can get to the main idea of this story. That's right, this is still the beginning...I think...**

**Well, here we go!**

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the day at the village, meeting Sango.

On their way back the next day, Kagome and Sesshomaru encountered Miroku. The lecher tried one of his moves again on Kagome, not minding the fact that she was the daughter of this land's lord.

Kagome was extremely shocked, blushing red. Sesshomaru even seemed a little surprised that someone could shamelessly do that and attempt to look innocent at the same time.

Then Sango appeared and knocked Miroku out with this giant boomerang of hers that she called Hiraikotsu.

Despite the fact that Kagome was extremely annoyed and embarrassed, she had to admit that this was a humorous scene, and she found herself giggling, then completely laughing out loud.

They found themselves back at the castle, hours later, and soon everything was back to normal. As normal as it could get anyway...

Her father had been acting odd lately. Kagome had thought he was ill at first, but there was no signs of a fever or a warm forehead, so she just guessed that he might not at all like the idea of her marrying Naraku, and that was fine, Sango didn't seem like she did either, neither did Miroku, and neither did she herself. So Kagome soon forgot that idea of her father acting weird, and just figured that it was what any father would act like if their daughters were to be married to a former enemy.

Inuyasha had visited a few times since then, Kagome had gotten to be with him alone, but he started acting a little...distant to her...She couldn't really blame him, she might have been acting the same way. They would never be anything but friends, that was what she thought anyway, she was going to marry Naraku, any hopes of being with Inuyasha were gone.

He had first thought she was joking with him when she said that she was engaged to Naraku, but he was soon convinced that she was serious. Since then, Kagome had noticed Inuyasha spending a little more time talking with Kikyo...At first, she didn't think to much on it, but now she began to feel jealous a little of her older sister...Kagome was beginning to think that there was something going on between Inuyasha and Kikyo, but didn't say anything about it, what place did she have to? She was going to get married for goodness sake! She had to forget the feelings for Inuyasha.

Kagome had never thought marriage could make people feel this bad...until now, of course...

Whenever she had moments alone with Inuyasha, she'd see some emotions in his eyes, and knew that he had feelings for her still. Kagome didn't know why she never realized he had strong feelings for her until now, now that it was too late to say anything about it. It was just that sad. But even though she could not be together with Inuyasha, that didn't mean she couldn't daydream about it. Right?

Also, Rin would ask her these questions that made her feel worse: "How is it like to be engaged to someone?" "Are you happy?" "Are you sad?" "Will you be leaving us?" "Will we get to see each other alot?"

Kagome didn't always respond to those questions, but when she did, she usually just answered with an "I don't know".

She was spending more and more time with Sesshomaru. She really did enjoy his company, especially these times when she didn't feel like talking, or she only wanted someone to listen. Though many times, she just wished he'd say something...

Koga even stopped by once, but he seemed really disappointed when she told him the news about her and Naraku. He forced a smile, and when he left, he hadn't come back after, at all.

Hojo hadn't stopped by either. But that was okay. If all of her suitors came by, Kagome would have felt worse about everything.

That was pretty much how the two weeks went by...

So now, she was hearing more interesting news from her father.

"Naraku will be visiting us in two days time. He will come to see how you, his bride-to-be, are living, and such..."

Oh joy. Here comes the man that is the cause of her sadness...

"Alright, Father" Kagome responded cheerfully, fake cheerfulness, but it obviously fooled her father, and he dismissed her without a single worrying glance. That was out of character. 'Father would have known I was faking...he would've also seemed more worried normally, wouldn't he?'

The thought of him becoming distant like Inuyasha made her sad all over again. Come to think of it, everyone was becoming more and more distant to her...

But Sesshomaru was probably the only one who didn't keep distance, for that, she was thankful. But it was only natural, she had recently just met him, so why _would _he go all distant on her, they weren't that close...She had only known him for not even a month yet...

Kagome left her father's study where he had summoned her earlier to tell her this news. He was beginning to seem odder by the day, it seemed that her father was a stranger nowadays, but that was ridiculous, all this stress and fear she was going through made her a little...delusional, that's it, and that's all.

She met Sesshomaru along the way back to her room, and smiled softly.

"Guess what? Naraku's coming over here in two days? Amazing, right?" Kagome spoke with sarcasm in her voice.

"Hm..." He sighed softly then, Kagome simply watched him. Again, she wondered where he came from, how he got those wounds, but she could never receive an answer, which was just frustrating sometimes...

She also wondered that if she went with Naraku, would she be able to see Sesshomaru again? Of course she would, wouldn't she? He'd come visit her, right? That was allowed, wasn't it?

* * *

_**Two days later...(Yeah, I'm jumping again, I hate doing this, but I'm just trying to speed it up to get to the main plot, plus I'm out of ideas at this point)**_

Kagome grudgingly put a big fancy princess kimono, complete with all the many layers not even Kikyo wore. She hated walking like this, but she remembered each of her etiquette lessons on walking straight and gracefully, remembering not to fall down, not to trip over her own feet, and not to fall down the stairs.

Right, she'd remember all of that, and everything would be just fine, right? Right.

Her hair was done in some weird way with all these twists and pins and chopsticks, Kagome could only guess that it was supposed to look like two buns, but now she wasn't sure. No, she no longer felt like a princess. She felt like food. Yes food, the chopsticks even completed this new _delicious _look...Now, she felt like a giant pastry, to be exact. Yes, a pastry. Great, now she was hungry. Wait...This was twisted, _she _was making _herself_ hungry? Okay, end of those thoughts there...getting too weird...

Naraku was supposed to see how Kagome acted and dressed normally, right? So why was she being someone totally different than who she was...? This didn't make sense, maybe her father wanted her to impress Naraku or something?

Anyway, so Kikyo, Souta, Rin, and even Sesshomaru were supposed to come down with her to the dinner table. Everyone, including Naraku and her father, were sitting there. The only ones who weren't there were Sesshomaru and Kagome.

Kagome was walking down the staircase and she also saw that Sesshomaru was walking down as well, he was wearing that red hexagon patterned kimono. She smiled and walked beside him, no words were spoken, but they continued walking down the stairs until they had found themselves at the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, here we go" Kagome said softly with a deep breath, feeling horribly embarrassed with her newly dubbed 'pastry' clothes.

Sesshomaru pulled back the shoji screen door that would lead them into the dining room. On his first glance inside, his eyes widened, he gasped, and closed the door quickly again.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome questioned softly "Are you okay...? Come on, we need to get inside" she took his hand and started to re-open the shoji again, she glanced uneasily back at Sesshomaru.

The look in his eyes...it was like if he could talk, she'd knew he'd be saying: "Please don't make me go in".

She almost went along with it, but she decided against it, he was meant to be there, he was a guest, and it was proper, so she told him to come along once more and eventually was able to pull him in when she opened the shoji fully.

Kagome forced her prettiest fake smile on, attempting to look like a pretty pile of pastries. She sat down gracefully on the right side of Naraku, where she assumed she was meant to sit. Sesshomaru took a seat almost all the way across from them, which was near her father, beside Souta, to be exact.

Kagome looked at her husband-to-be, and blinked in some surprise. She could have sworn he was smirking just a moment ago, but now he was normal. Her imagination probably...yes, just her imagination...

"Hello Princess Kagome" Naraku greeted, almost politely. He was handsomer than she remembered, but Kagome still did not like him, he gave her the creeps.

"Hello Lord Naraku" Kagome greeted in a similar tone "If I may ask, what do you hope to gain from this marriage?" she hoped she wasn't offending him or anyone else, but she really wanted to know this answer.

"Everything I've desired..." He replied softly. Kagome's eyes went just a little wider than normal, but then she frowned. He sounded just a little psycho the way he said that...maybe he was, or maybe not...

Her eyes nervously darted around to the others, they locked with Kikyo for a second, and with the corners of her eye, she could see Rin slowly stick her tongue out at Naraku.

"Rin" Kikyo's voice was heard with some disapproval.

Rin smiled innocently and went back to her food.

Kagome looked at Sesshomaru, he was almost as still as a statue and glaring at Naraku who was 'oblivious' to this. Sesshomaru looked extremely hostile at the moment, but Kagome did not say anything about it. It seemed no one else could think of something to say, so dinner was passing in an uncomfortable silence.

Suddenly, Naraku glanced up and looked straight at Sesshomaru.

"So, I see you have found Sesshomaru" He commented, and Kagome could hear a soft gasp come from Sesshomaru's direction.

"What?" Kagome asked in interest "You know Sesshomaru?"

"But of course" Naraku smoothly continued "He is a valuable servant of mine." Rin, Kikyo, Souta, and Kagome seemed slightly surprised, even Sesshomaru did, but no one was looking "He has been missing for..." he paused to count "Exactly two weeks and four days"

"Two weeks and four days ago" Kagome echoed "That's the same time we found him" so Naraku couldn't have been lying about this, could he? He knew Sesshomaru's name, and he knew the exactly date when she had met Sesshomaru which was the same day Sesshomaru went missing...

Still, it was a little difficult to think of Sesshomaru as a servant.

"But he's..."

"Mute?" Naraku offered, then chuckled "I know. But usually, it is the mute ones who you can trust with your plans..."

Well, it did make some sense. Naraku even knew he was mute. So Sesshomaru really was one of Naraku's servants? But maybe he did not want to go back which is why he did not want to go through the door to the dinner table. It would make sense, right?

"Well, what luck finding him here. This is good news, I shall take him back with me when I return home tonight"

Kagome gave a rather uneasy smile. Well, at least she'd be seeing Sesshomaru more when she married Naraku. Still...she did not feel right about this for some reason. But what right did she have to not allow a Lord to take back his servant? Besides, it would probably be her father who was the only one who could speak against it.

"Very well" Lord Higurashi said a little...too quickly. He was not even looking up from his food, which was strange, since her father always politely seemed to look at everyone in the eyes when he talked.

Soon, they all started up a conversation, it was ordinary and plain. About the weather and snowfalls or something of the sort. Kagome wasn't exactly paying much attention. She actually felt rather tired at the moment.

* * *

_**All right, I'm going to stop there...**_

_**I dunno, but I think I may be a little tipsy...Nice spiked eggnog...ANYWAY! I know where I am going to go from here, so the next update should be sooner than this one was...But, as it is obvious, it will be in 2011.**_

_**Happy New Years, everybody!**_

_**-Peter Pan**_


	10. The Wind Sorceress

**Disclaimer: I own everything and I'm a fish...But I'm not a fish, so I guess I don't own everything after all *sigh*.**

**Oh yeah, and I wanted to thank you, BMalone93 for answering all my questions! Thank You! I was going to thank you last chapter but it slipped my mind since I was so exhausted.**

**Well, I would have had this chapter updated soon, but my entire neighborhood's internet shut down for two days.**

**So anyway, here's chapter 10 of Junsuina Ai.**

* * *

"I thank you for the meal" Naraku said, all politely, fooling everybody.

"You are welcome" Lord Higurashi replied "It was a pleasure having you visit us."

"The pleasure was all mine..."

Fake! Fake, fake, fake, FAKE! Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. Why couldn't Lord Higurashi tell that Naraku was totally faking this kindness? It was so obvious! Even Kagome looked like she wasn't buying this.

Kagome could tell that Naraku had something up his sleeve.

_'Stop it! Stop being so paranoid, Kagome!'_ she yelled at herself '_It's probably nothing. No! It has to be SOMETHING! What would Naraku have planned with this? It doesn't make sense to me! He probably has absolutely NOTHING planned, and this feeling is just my dislike for him talking.' _Still, she could not shake off the feeling that Naraku DID, indeed, have something planned. Agh. But WHAT? Or maybe she was using this as an excuse to give to her father to not marry Naraku. She didn't know right now...

At the moment, they were by the entrance area. Naraku was about to leave, and Kagome only came along to say a goodbye to Sesshomaru. She still found it hard to believe he was a_ servant_...It sounded odd...But he must have gotten attacked by some monster. But what was he doing way out here when Naraku was up north? Was he running away? Or was he supposed to complete an errand here?

The feeling that Naraku had something up his sleeve again went through Kagome's head, she frowned, but didn't disagree with those particular thoughts. Yes...Naraku had something up. Yep, definitely...But...what could she do? She was a princess, and Naraku was a Lord. She was a girl, he was a man. Sadly, she couldn't do anything about it...

"I shall take my leave now" Naraku announced.

"Oh..." Kagome looked at Sesshomaru "Goodbye Sesshomaru, for now..." the sudden urge to pull him into a bone-crushing hug passed through her, but she held herself back. Besides, there was no need to miss him too much. When she married Naraku, she was going to see him again, wasn't she? There was no need for the sadness she was currently feeling, was there?

Her father and Naraku had suddenly started up a friendly conversation. Friendly, gee...they were huge enemies not long ago. Kagome swallowed and looked over at Sesshomaru again.

The way he was looking at her was like he was trying to give her a message, he kept glancing at her father and looking back at her like he was trying to tell her something, it seemed urgent...But sadly, Kagome did not get it at all, and it made her feel a little frustrated.

But she didn't miss the hostile look of hatred that Sesshomaru directed towards Naraku every now and then. That look did not make her suspicious of Sesshomaru, but rather suspicious of Naraku instead. Why would Sesshomaru be looking at Naraku like that?

After a while of listening to the rather boring conversation that Lord Higurashi and Naraku were having for long enough, Kagome exited the exiting hallway.

* * *

Kagome went back to her room with a sigh. Already, she was missing Sesshomaru's presence. Well, at least she had something to look forward to when she married Naraku. At least, right?

She was finally out of all those layers, and now only dressed in a simple white and pale green kimono that was hidden underneath her pastry clothing. Her hair was freed from the buns and chopsticks, and it sure felt SO nice to have it down again.

An odd gut feeling was suddenly screaming at her to go outside. Her eyes darted to her bow and arrows which she always kept by her bed...

She didn't know what exactly, but she knew something was wrong.

And she was going to figure this out...

* * *

The long boring conversation about how their lands were doing and blah, blah, blah had finally ended the moment Kagome had disappeared up the stairs, it seemed eerie how it had stopped all of a sudden when Kagome had left.

Though, throughout the conversation, Sesshomaru watched Lord Higurashi. There was something definitely wrong with that man. He seemed almost...lifeless...so Sesshomaru was tuned out of the conversation because of his observations. He really did not trust this Lord who was Kagome's father.

Sesshomaru had tried to turn Kagome's attention to her father by gesturing with his eyes to somehow get her to observe her father closely as a warning of whatever was wrong. She had looked at him curiously, then frowned thoughtfully, then she even looked a bit frustrated, so he had the hint that she wasn't getting this and eventually gave up.

Soon after the conversation had ended, like it was said above, Naraku left through the front doors of the palace. Many of the servants had seemed to retire so there was not a single one in sight currently. Naraku had grabbed Sesshomaru's arm in a tight grip, and strangely, though Lord Higurashi was still there, he wasn't seeing a thing. Or at least, acting like he wasn't, he watched them but acted like this was normal.

They stepped out of the palace doors, and as they were passing the snow-covered gardens that glistened blue in the moonlight, Sesshomaru suddenly yanked himself out of Naraku's grasp and lashed out with his claws. He had been created with some demonic characteristics like the claws, mainly for disguise, which is probably one of the reasons Kagome and her older sister had thought he was a demon. But at the moment, this was not important.

Naraku had apparently seen this coming and had moved out of the way swiftly to the side. Then, as quick as light, Naraku had a grip on Sesshomaru's arm again.

"You fool, don't be so vain" Naraku said, smirking as he looked into the hate-filled gold eyes that were glaring at him "Or have you forgotten so very soon?" the grip on Sesshomaru's arm tightened "Well let me remind you...I have already absorbed most of your powers. But you still have much more...I'll find that useful later. But for now, there's no way you can possibly defeat me, you are too weak at the moment, but I doubt you will ever be able to regain your strength."

With that, Naraku suddenly twisted his arm to the side. A _crack _was clearly heard.

Sesshomaru shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to make a single sound. Of course, this hurt like hell, but he wasn't about to let Naraku have the pleasure of knowing just how much. Naturally, thanks to his healing abilities, his arm should heal in like a day, but it was still hurting terribly. And he absolutely _hated _this feeling of helplessness.

All of a sudden, so suddenly, that it even surprised Naraku; an arrow pierced its way through the air and almost struck Naraku's foot, though it missed.

"Hey! Let him go, you evil monster!" A really recognizable female voice shouted some fifteen feet away.

Sesshomaru's eyes opened to look up. A familiar girl in a white and green kimono was standing with a bow ready and another arrow notched, aimed at Naraku. She looked furious as the wind and snow blew her hair around her.

Though, he should have been relieved to see her, he just couldn't stop his mind from thinking a thought that was similar to: _Oh wonderful, another person to witness my moment of weakness..._

"I said, _let him go_!" Kagome shouted again, pulling the bow string back further "I don't give a damn if you are the Lord of the North or not! You're plain evil, you deceiving honorless liar!"

While Naraku was distracted by Kagome's bravery, Sesshomaru again lashed out with his claws and had managed to draw blood across Naraku's face. A battle suddenly formed between them, though it seemed that Sesshomaru was fighting even better than before, and he was not as slow as earlier, though Naraku hadn't seemed to be fighting as well as he could from Kagome's perspective. Maybe he was testing Sesshomaru's strength?

Kagome, meanwhile, tried to focus on where Naraku was so that she wouldn't hit Sesshomaru, but she was never an amazing archer and this was so difficult! She had come to this scene when Naraku had re-gripped Sesshomaru's arm and heard the words Naraku had spoken. They were all she needed to confirm many of her suspicions and they plainly told her that Sesshomaru was, in fact, _not _a servant. She had started trying to aim as well as she could, and was totally surprised that neither of them and sensed or smelt her nearby, but they must have been too busy to be able to sense her and the snow must've covered her scent, it was frozen water, after all. But when she had first shot the arrow, it almost hit Naraku's foot, though she was disappointed that she had missed. It was an easy shot too, since none of them were moving around, and it was wasted.

Anyway, back to the battle.

Finally, she had gotten a good angle for a shot. She was sure this would hit Naraku's heart maybe, and if it missed, she was sure that it would his Naraku's neck, but if it missed further, would it shoot Sesshomaru? That thought suddenly made herself hesitate, she did not trust herself enough to let go of the arrow, and continued to ponder what would she do? Release the arrow or continue aiming?

Okay, OKAY! She knew what she'd do, she watched the battle for a few more seconds, it was like Naraku kept dodging while Sesshomaru attacked. It reminded her a little of the battle between Sesshomaru and Inuyasha those weeks ago, but Sesshomaru hadn't allowed as many emotions of anger to appear on his face as Inuyasha had. And damn, Sesshomaru would have been doing SO much better if Naraku had not absorbed his powers...Speaking of which, how DID Naraku steal his powers?

But whatever, her attention again focused back on the battle, her heart was beating fast and she could practically hear it. Kagome felt useless at this very moment, but did not know what she should do, she was too scared to use her bow, it was pathetic really. She felt pathetic, and weak...Aggh, thoughts of how Kikyo would do so much better filled her mind, but she pushed them back. Sesshomaru was more important than those thoughts, so she needed to see what she could do to help him...but she came to nothing...

That was until Naraku had decided to go on the offensive a little and punch Sesshomaru across the face, thus knocking the younger man far back, but Sesshomaru just got up again. Kagome was surprised at Naraku's strength, but it only made her more disgusted at the evil man, knowing he stole most of it from Sesshomaru...

Naraku again went on the offensive and slashed his claws out. The first hit, Sesshomaru was able to dodge, but the second slash of claws cut over his chest.

"Sesshomaru!" Kagome gasped, frightened almost to death, throughout this whole battle, she was so scared for his life, she even ignored the ice cold wind and snow, it didn't seem to matter that she was shivering out here, and that she should have dressed warmer.

Sesshomaru, however, ignored the pain and kept fighting, that only scared Kagome more, this was weakening him so much more...but then, what else could he do except fight? If he backed down, he was dead...and so was she...

But she was kinda surprised on how he did not slow down at all, instead his strength seemed to increase a little the more he was hit...

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru would have probably at least been weakened, but he knew that if he would back down, he wouldn't be able to protect Kagome, and he needed to protect her, if he didn't and died or was knocked out, she wouldn't be protect and then would either die herself or fall into Naraku's hands and who knew what would happen to her then? The thought made him furious and caused him to fight with so much more strength. But he knew it still was not enough to defeat Naraku, it would take so much more strength than this...

Kagome lifted her bow again, coming up with another plan. Even if she could not release her arrow, maybe it was possible to distract Naraku again? Though before she could even notch an arrow on the string, she felt someone grab her from behind.

Kagome screamed and was so surprised that she dropped her bow. Her scream caught Sesshomaru attention and made him pause to see what was going on with the princess. Naraku had also stopped fighting, but not from surprise, the spider demon was smirking.

The young princess, slid her fear-filled eyes behind her at the person who had seized her, only to see...her father...

"Father...?" She whispered in fear, sadness, surprise, and disbelief.

She saw the corners of her father's mouth move up in a dark smile. Kagome gasped when she felt the cold metal of a knife's blade against her neck.

"Give yourself up, Sesshomaru" Lord Higurashi spoke "If not, then this girl dies"

_'This girl?' _Kagome thought in shock. That was not the way her father would refer to her as. Ever.

"Who are you?" She whispered, something dawning in her eyes, her eyes starting to shine with water from the flow of tears that she was holding back "You aren't my father"

'Lord Higurashi' smiled a wicked smile that was something her father wouldn't ever do.

The sound of another pair of footsteps was heard softly.

All eyes slid over to the dark outline of the forest which was so far away. Kagome could see the small form of a woman who was wearing a purple, white, and yellow kimono so far away...

Sesshomaru, however, could see her much clearer. The woman had dark hair tied up in a bun and her scarlet eyes sparkled when the moonlight reflected on them, she had a fan in her hand and was holding it up.

"Kagome, Sesshomaru..." Naraku began "I'd like you to meet one of my incarnations. Kagura, the wind sorceress."

* * *

**I'm stopping there for now.**

**School is starting again so my updates may be a little slower on week days than on week ends...**

**Oh, and Sesshomaru will start talking either next chapter, or the chapter after that. **

**Well, that's all I can think to say for now. Bye-Bye!**

**-Peter Pan**


	11. Dungeon

**Disclaimer: I don't own IY, my name is not Rumiko Takahashi, enough said...**

_I feel really really flattered by the reviews! Thanks guys! Here's chapter 11..._

* * *

After those words spoken, all was silent.

Now everything was starting to make sense. Probably not to Kagome, but everything seemed to be falling into place for Sesshomaru.

"Now...Back down and give yourself up or this girl dies" Kagura said calmly. The odd woman had walked closer and was now standing not to far away from Naraku, not more than five feet, though the sudden spark of disgust and anger was directed to Naraku in her eyes, but she didn't let it show that much, it only lasted a single second.

Lord Higurashi pressed the blade of the knife closer to Kagome's neck. The princess gasped as she felt the sharp blade cut through her delicate skin. She felt a drop of something wet and sticky run down her neck, and knew it was blood. A tear slipped down her cheek at the pain. She had never been cut this deep before, even if it was just a tiny scratch compared to other wounds people had suffered.

Sesshomaru made his face look expressionless, yet he instantly dropped his earlier fighting-and-defense stance, showing that he was backing down.

Naraku even looked a little surprised "You've made your decision so quickly?" he asked smoothly, then smirked "I see you must really care about this girl a great deal..."

Kagome wasn't really paying much attention. She probably would've, but the freezing cold snow and winds, plus the natural cold of the night, and plus the small wound she had received from her 'father', it made her force herself to stay awake, though she was losing this battle. The moment Sesshomaru had backed down, Kagura had approached her, 'her father' loosened his grip on her and Kagura had decided to hold her up instead; but when this happened, Kagome instantly passed out in Kagura's arms.

The sorceress seemed awfully annoyed and rolled her eyes with a sigh, taking hold of the girl's body.

Lord Higurashi's body limply fell to the snow covered ground.

Sesshomaru stared down at the body of Kagome's father, realizing everything. He glanced at Kagome's unconscious form in the sorceress's arms, then sent a glare to Naraku, everything he needed to say was already so clear in his eyes.

Naraku chuckled, getting the silent message "So, you have it all figured out now that it's too late, don't you. Yes, I killed this man, I killed him when he came for that peace treaty. He would have probably been spared, but when I said that the alliance would only be made if I could marry his daughter Kagome, he refused, so I had to kill him. Besides, he was much more useful dead to me than alive. I then made Kagura animate his corpse with a very convenient skill of hers known as the _Dance of the Dead._ You are probably wondering why I chose to marry Kagome rather than her older sister, which would have be more traditional. Well, when I had captured you, I was really there, but at the same time, another version of me, a copy or a puppet rather, was trying to form a nice alliance with Lord Higurashi. When I had you...intoxicated,"

Naraku paused to chuckle again here "from the sake you were so enjoying, and drugged, I had asked you what your mission here was, you told me it was to destroy the Shikon no Tama, it was so simple, you also told me that Kagome would be the key for finding it, and that was why I needed Kagome over here without arousing the suspicions of the other lords." with red eyes shining with victory, Naraku gave off a wicked smile "Now Sesshomaru, you will come with me without giving me any trouble, or else..." he gestured to Kagome "That girl will die..."

Sesshomaru had no choice then. Besides, there may have been some slight chance that he could survive this. However, if he had not gave himself up so easily, then Kagome would have definitely died, he knew that Naraku was serious about killing Kagome, perhaps after he had the information he needed on the Shikon no Tama...but he guessed that Naraku himself did not know where the jewel was and that was probably why he had not already killed Kagome, seeing as she meant nothing to him...Though, if she did have information on where the Shikon no Tama was, would Naraku kill her when he had what he needed? Most likely...Sesshomaru needed someway to prevent the girl from giving up any info.

* * *

Here he was again, back at Naraku's dark castle. Naraku had took him back in this cloud of miasma, it was difficult to breathe in there, so Sesshomaru was actually relieved when they arrived at last.

Kagura had took Kagome for the ride for some reason...Her on this big magical feather was slower than Naraku's miasma cloud, so naturally, he and Naraku had arrived first. Bad thing about the miasma cloud was that he could not see anything with where they were going, it was too dark. Far too dark. So Sesshomaru had no idea where exactly they were.

The first thing that had happened since they had arrived was being taken to this deep dark cell, without being allowed to try to escape, the consequence being result of Kagome's death. This was really very frustrating and difficult.

So here he was. There seemed to be no way to escape, Naraku had long since left, and Sesshomaru wondered what was happening to Kagome now. He had only been in this cell for no more than five minutes, and he also wondered what Naraku had wanted from him here...

The cell was round and stone, and actually looked more like a dungeon, it was really cold too. There was a small cell door that was actually made out of solid iron that probably had magic binding them as well, so there was no need for a lock. There were, of course, small holes in the top for breathing so the prisoners did not suffocate.

No longer than a minute later, Sesshomaru noticed a familiar _POOF_ of sparkly white smoke from the corner of his eye. He lazily and gloomily looked over in that direction, already knowing who had appeared.

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

"What is it that you need to say, Myouga?" Sesshomaru asked quietly.

"Oh, I've come to say that, well, you can speak in the mortal's tongue now!" Myouga exclaimed so very cheerfully.

"I can?" asked the obviously grumpy and unimpressed Sesshomaru "How useful, and it would have been even more useful an hour ago..."

"You _were_ able to use it an hour ago! In fact, you were able to use it days ago! You just needed some, you know, experience with the mortals, and now, the kami have granted you the ability. It's like a game!"

"A game?" echoed the still unimpressed man.

"Exactly! A game! I suppose you were just used to not talking. In any case, you can now speak in the mortal's language, and not just understand them! Huzzah!"

Sesshomaru stared with disbelief at the tiny overly cheerful being. He seemed awfully...chipper. Did he not realize where they were? In a dungeon for kami's sake! This was not good! Myouga was smiling like this was the most important moment in his long life.

Though, he did not think about it too much, because just then, the cell's door opened up. Myouga jumped back and hid somewhere in the corner of the dark room, running from whatever trouble there might be.

It was Kagura, the wind sorceress from earlier. She was carrying Kagome in. The princess was still unconscious, no surprise, it hadn't been more than fifteen minutes since he had last saw her.

Kagura seemed like she was about to just throw Kagome in the room, then just walk off. But before she could, Sesshomaru quietly spoke up.

"Give her to me"

The wind witch paused and blinked a couple times, before she cautiously walked over to him and handed the body of the shivering girl to him.

Sesshomaru took Kagome in his arms. She'd probably freeze to death if she stayed like this much longer. Her lips were blue and her teeth kept chattering. Without much thought at all, Sesshomaru instantly pulled off his haori and wrapped Kagome up in it. It was a little ripped from Naraku's attack, but it was better than nothing. He held the girl close to his chest to warm her up even more.

Kagura watched them for a few seconds, some emotion in her eyes, she took a shaky breath "I'm sorry" she whispered.

Sesshomaru looked up at her and stared with a small frown "For what?"

"For everything" the sorceress replied, staring down at the floor "I only obey Naraku because he holds my heart in his hands." she touched her chest where her heart should be "If he had not, I would have never done anything like animate the girl's father's corpse, I would be fighting against him. Truly."

"Why does Naraku want me here?"

Kagura frowned "I don't know. He doesn't trust me enough to tell me everything." she shook her head, then spoke the next part quickly "I need to go. Good luck with whatever you're going to do" with that, she stood up and left the dungeon, closing the metal door behind her.

When she had left, Myouga stepped out from his hiding place. Even though it was such an obvious hiding spot, Kagura had not noticed him. At all.

"Well...that was interesting" The little man commented. He floated over to Sesshomaru and stood on his shoulder, and stared at the sleeping face of Kagome. The princess was no longer chattering her teeth, and was actually smiling softly in content as if she was suddenly having a good peaceful dream.

Myouga watched with wide eyes as Sesshomaru sighed softly and rested his chin atop the girl's head, unconsciously holding her closer.

"I see you really care for this girl" Myouga quietly stated "That's nice and all...but remember, just...just don't fall for her"

Sesshomaru darted his eyes over to the being standing on his shoulder "What are you talking about now?"

"I'm talking about...love, you know? Don't fall in love with her." Myouga continued "At least try not to, alright?"

The younger male stared back. He cared for Kagome, yes, but she was just his friend, right? That was the only reason he was protective of her...right? "I'm stronger than that"

Myouga sighed and gave a smile "Yes, I know. But you are still very young, Sesshomaru-sama. You know what will happen when your work here is done, don't you?"

"I know" Sesshomaru snapped, sending a glare to Myouga. He then looked back down at Kagome's face and whispered "I know..." the thought of it now felt worse than it should have, or rather, worse than it did when he had started this quest.

"You know, you should use this time to explain things to her." Myouga advised "She'd probably be so confused..."

"Uggh..."

For a second, Sesshomaru and Myouga looked at each other, then back at Kagome who was making that noise.

Her lips parted and her eyelids started to flutter open. When they did open, she found herself staring into the warm golden eyes of Sesshomaru.

"Hello Sesshomaru..." She whispered, a smile touching her lips.

Sesshomaru stared at her for a couple moments in silence. Right, now he was going to speak the language of mortals. He closed his eyes for a few moments, focusing on speaking a different language. It couldn't be all that hard, could it?

"Hello Kagome"

Kagome gasped _'Did he just...speak?'_ she stared at him with wide eyes, not saying anything. Did he really speak or was it just her imagination? Was that really his voice? It sounded so wonderful and...beautiful...

"You..." She realized her position in his arms, being held close to Sesshomaru's chest, and blushed. She might have moved from her place in his lap, but she was so comfortable and warm, so she stayed. She heard a chuckle.

"Spoke?" another voice offered, the same voice that was chuckling. Kagome blinked and looked in the direction that voice came from. She saw a tiny little...being...whatever it was.

Her delicate hand reached up to Sesshomaru's shoulder and poked the little old man there. The tiny man jumped back and was suddenly _floating in the air_. She noticed the tiny chubby pair of cute little wings on the man's back.

"Okay, what are you?" She demanded, freaking out a little, her eyes going wide.

"My name's Myouga" said the little man pleasantly.

Kagome stared, her eyes still wide "Kagome..." she whispered in reply "What are you?"

"Nice to meet you to" Myouga replied cheerfully with a hint of sarcasm.

"Myouga is a type of a pixie, also a messenger for the kami" Sesshomaru answered her question.

"You just talked again! Didn't you?" Kagome accused, pointing a finger at Sesshomaru "What is going on here?"

"Sesshomaru-sama always could talk. He just didn't" the old pixie man called Myouga answered.

"You what?" The princess asked, looking accusingly at the younger male, then snapped her head back to Myouga "Why not?"

"He couldn't speak in the tongue of mortals. Until now, of course"

"The tongue of mortals?" Kagome echoed, filled with bewilderment.

"Most young celestial beings cannot speak with the tongue of mortals because they have not the experience yet, so they speak in the celestial tongue."

"Why are we speaking of celestial beings now?" Kagome demanded in all her confusion, staring at Myouga and Sesshomaru, waiting for all the answers to her questions.

"It's alright to tell her" Myouga said to Sesshomaru "Besides, you're meant to. Kagome-sama is important for this"

Sesshomaru's patient (for now) gaze met Kagome's own bewildered gaze "Kagome...the reason we are speaking of celestial beings...is because that's what I am"

The girl stared with wide eyes at him, searching for any lie, she found none "...Oh..." she mumbled, all she could say really.

"You...don't believe me...do you?"

Kagome widened her eyes further "Oh...no...no, no, no, no. I _do_ believe you"

"Really?"

"Oh yes. It's just..."

"You need proof?" Sesshomaru offered, and Kagome nodded slowly.

"Well" Myouga cut in, beginning to answer her question "That's a simple request!" he pointed to Sesshomaru's forehead "See that mark? Some celestial beings, namely angels, have that mark"

Kagome stared at the blue crescent moon "Oh, so _that's_ what it means! And I guess that answers the question on what you are...where are your wings? Don't angels have wings?" the answer practically hit her in the face when she remembered the day she found him in the woods "Those scars on your back...are those...?"

"That's what they were" Sesshomaru muttered.

"What happened to you?"

"Naraku"

Kagome gasped, knowing what that meant "That's despicable!" she then paused "But what _did _Naraku want you for?"

"Allow me to answer that!" Myouga joined in "Naraku is a power lusting man who has absorbed, and even killed celestial beings, that's why he's after Sesshomaru-sama now. He has the power to absorb the power of others, you know."

"I get that" Kagome said "But how am I involved? What does Naraku want with me?"

"Naraku is after the Shikon no Tama" Sesshomaru told her "You're the key to finding it"

Her jaw dropped "That's...That's crazy! I don't even have an idea of what that is!"

Sesshomaru frowned "You don't?" he glanced at Myouga, but the old pixie shrugged "Well, it is a jewel that grants wishes. Not many people here know what it is in this realm. Just a few. However, Naraku is one of them, I suppose he was also after the legendary jewel"

"Legendary?" She blinked, but Sesshomaru just continued.

"The jewel needs to be destroyed before it can get into the wrong hands. I don't know why exactly you're the key to finding it, but..."

His voice trailed off as the sound of the door started to open again. Knowing who it was, Sesshomaru tightened his protective grasp on Kagome, Kagome also huddled closer while Myouga cowardly hid in Sesshomaru's hair.

* * *

**I feel like stopping now, hope this chapter didn't disappoint. Thanks again for the reviews...and ugh, I have dentist tomorrow...scary!**

**Anyway, I had trouble earlier because Darth Vader stole my chocolate. But I told him that if he thought happy thoughts, he could fly. And he believed me so much, he jumped out the window of the top floor. I successfully defeated Lord Vader and won back my chocolate. Amazing, right? **

**Thanks for reading my nonsense.**

**-Peter Pan  
**


	12. Puppet

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru, Kagome, Naraku, Inuyasha, Kikyo, Rin, Souta, Kohaku, Shippo, Kagura, Myouga, Jakken, or any other character you may find, they all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.**

**Last night, I had a dream that I owned Kagome's big yellow backpack. Whenever I climbed inside and zipped it up, it transformed into a flying glass elevator, like Willy Wonka's! It was so cool, but I had to wake up, sadly, and I'm back to owning nothing...Oh well!**

_**Sorry I did not update sooner. Homework was eating away my time to write...But I'm back now!**_

**_Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I kinda want to hug you all right now, but I can't, so I'll just give you chapter 12 of Junsuina Ai. Here we go..._**

* * *

The door to the dungeon opened up and in came...can you guess? Naraku!

He was looking smug and satisfied as if he just had a bright idea. He slowly approached the two young people huddled over in the back.

"So you are the key to finding the Shikon no Tama" Naraku said, smirking. That sentence was directed to Kagome, but the princess only stared at him with wide frightened eyes, not really knowing what to say.

He approached some more steps until he was looming over the two, looking so very evil...Sesshomaru held Kagome even closer as if that one action could protect her from Naraku.

"You will give me the information or I will kill you...both!"

Kagome widened her eyes further, they flashed with rage, then narrowed dangerously in one of her best glares "What is your problem! I have no idea on where this 'Shikon no Tama' is! Why would I? What's wrong with you people?"

For a moment, Naraku's eyes sparked with confusion "You don't know where it is?"

"No I don't!" She huffed.

Naraku's eyes then slid over to Sesshomaru's "You...you know where the Shikon no Tama is...don't you? You have, after all, been with this girl for over two weeks"

Sesshomaru smirked "And if I do?" better that Naraku thought he knew were the Shikon was than Kagome.

"You _will _tell me where it is"

"And if I don't?"

Kagome stared at Sesshomaru _'What is he trying to do? He doesn't have the Shikon no Tama! If he did, why would he ask me if I had it? Why would they think I am the key for finding it?' _even though she was confused about this, she said nothing, choosing to rather watch how this unfolded.

"I will kill you in the most painful way I can think of" Naraku threatened.

"You can't kill me" Sesshomaru countered "If you do, you'll never know where the Shikon no Tama is. And I can assure it is someplace where I know you will never find. Ever." it was an obvious lie, he didn't know where it was, but Naraku didn't know that.

_'Does he really know where this jewel thing is?' _Wondered Kagome. The way Sesshomaru had said that made her so convinced. Maybe he really did know where it was_ 'But then that doesn't make sense as to why he'd think I had it'_

_'What are you doing, you fool?'_ Myouga thought, anxiously wiping his forehead with a tiny handkerchief_ 'You're going to get yourself and the girl killed!'_

Naraku seemed to pause as he thought about what to say next "The princess will die...unless you give me the information"

"I won't let you touch her"

Kagome stared again at Sesshomaru, an odd warmth rising in her chest when she heard those words _'Is he saying...that he'll protect me no matter what?'_

_'Not good, not good, not good' _Myouga chanted over and over in his mind. Then, without a further glance, and unknown by everyone, he hopped off Sesshomaru's shoulder and floated over to one of the tiny air holes in the dungeon. The holes would have been to small for others, but not Myouga the pixie. Easily, Myouga simply slipped through the hole, still unnoticed.

"I don't think you can protect her with how you are now" Naraku shot back, lifting his clawed hand over them, then bringing it down swiftly. Sesshomaru had seen this coming and pushed Kagome to the left, then he quickly moved to the right, barely missing Naraku's claws.

However, before Sesshomaru could make it back to Kagome, Naraku had turned to her, an odd psycho happy look in his crimson eyes. Kagome looked really hurt physically, even though she wasn't injured, it was probably because she was a princess and not used to getting shoved around dungeons.

"No..." Sesshomaru whispered under his breath, watching as Naraku prepared to strike the girl. As quickly as possible, he got up to his feet and drew as much of the power he could from within himself and formed it into a sphere around Kagome.

Kagome shut her eyes just as Naraku's hand came down to strike her, her teeth clenched and her head bowed, preparing for the strike that never came. When she opened her eyes and cautiously looked up, she saw Naraku's hand coming down her, but it was frozen in mid-air, hitting something invisible instead.

She had seen something like this before. Yet, it felt different this time. She remembered Kikyo had made something like this before, but Kikyo's light was pink. This time, the light around her was blue. _'A barrier'_ she figured.

Naraku, looking extremely furious, turned to Sesshomaru, who looked slightly exhausted, yet satisfied, a small tired smile appeared on his lips.

"Come after me, Naraku" Sesshomaru said in a taunting voice "It is obvious that you will not be able to reach her now. There's no use wasting your time, now is there?"

With a growl, Naraku turned back to Sesshomaru, leaving Kagome forgotten. Sesshomaru smirked, pleased that he turned the northern lord's attention away from Kagome.

Naraku moved so quickly that Kagome hadn't even saw him, just a black blur. But apparently, Sesshomaru had seen him for at least a second and moved away as fast as possible in a white blur.

Kagome had sighed with relief when she saw that Sesshomaru had managed to get out of harms way for the moment, but she gasped when she saw the red of blood growing darker in color around the middle of his left arm. He noticed it too, but was ignoring it. His face displayed no emotion which made it just a little difficult for Naraku to predict his movement.

Though, as he was, Naraku did not give up, knowing he could win this easy battle, and struck out again towards Sesshomaru's stomach. But Naraku made the mistake of letting his emotions show up for just a second, and Sesshomaru immediantly knew where Naraku would strike by just looking in the direction where Naraku's eyes moved.

So, with the information of knowing where Naraku would strike, Sesshomaru easily back flipped over the attack. Though for the moment, it seemed that there was hope, Sesshomaru knew he could only stay on the defensive, he was too slow to attack at the moment, and Naraku was just too fast. But that was fine for now, until he either got lucky or Naraku's guard dropped.

Kagome nervously watched the battle on held breath _'Either Naraku is going easy on him...or something is happening outside' _she figured_ 'or both'_ after all, Naraku could call upon help from whatever servant or warrior he had here, like that wind sorceress Kagura, but he didn't, it frightened her a little. What would happen if Naraku fought to his full strength. They were as good as dead, weren't they? _'I wonder where that Myouga fellow went, did he run away?'_ she looked at the door _'It's open. But should I leave...No! I can't leave Sesshomaru alone. Besides, what if there's something that I can't fight out there...? What if I cause more trouble for Sesshomaru?'_ That was one of her problems, it was hard for her to trust herself.

So she just remained inside the little blue barrier, watching how the fight went by. She felt useless and hated it, but still...what could she do? She did not have her bow and arrows with her...

When she finally pushed herself back to reality, she saw that Sesshomaru had suddenly moved his hand quickly through Naraku's neck and the head of the northern lord fell to the ground and rolled towards her. So it seemed Sesshomaru had gotten a lucky hit.

"You killed him" Kagome mumbled in surprise, staring with wide eyes that held both relief and disgust as she looked at the severed head.

"No" Sesshomaru replied, then motioned to the floor where Naraku's torso and legs were. A wooden doll was sliced in half diagonally "That wasn't Naraku, that was just a puppet"

"So it wasn't really Naraku who was here earlier?" Kagome asked softly.

"No, the person who had brought me here was Naraku. But this time, I suppose to check up on us, or to test how strong I am, he brought a mere puppet."

_'So that's why no one else came in.._.' She realized.

"Come on, let's go now" Sesshomaru said quietly.

"We're free to go?" Kagome asked in surprise "But shouldn't there be more trouble outside?"

"I doubt it" He answered "Naraku was probably very cautious this time. This castle is most likely just a duplicate or an illusion."

"Still, if Naraku wanted this Shikon no Tama thing, why would he let us go so easily?"

Sesshomaru didn't reply. He didn't know either. Though it really did seem weird...where was Kagura? And where was Myouga?

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

Never mind...

"Did you run away again?" Sesshomaru asked as the old pixie settled on his shoulder.

With fake offense, Myouga's spoke "Me? Never! I was just scouting out the castle! And the coast is clear"

"Thank you, Myouga" Kagome said softly with true thanks and a gentle smile.

"Oh, it was nothing, princess" Myouga said bashfully.

"I need to get home" Kagome continued "Then we should find Father"

"Find your father?" Sesshomaru asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Well of course! That person was a puppet to, right? Or an illusion or duplicate, wasn't he? Not my real father, right? Naraku must have my father being held somewhere"

Before Sesshomaru could reply with the truth, Myouga piped up "Of course, Princess Kagome, we'll find your father"

"Good" Kagome smiled, living in the ignorance that her father was actually dead "If Naraku has harmed him too much, he'll pay!"

The three of them made there way out of the vacant castle, and the castle ended up actually being an illusion. They watched it fade away like a mirage, then disappear, before they just started walking.

Sesshomaru stared at Kagome as she glanced up at him and smiled again, he then focused his attention back to the snow path. How would she find out now? It was obvious the girl really loved her father...it would probably hurt her terribly if she discovered the truth...so he wouldn't break it to her yet. All she knew was that her father was being held prisoner by Naraku, and then when they found Naraku, they'd set him free, and everything would be nice and happy all over again.

Kagome pulled Sesshomaru's haori tighter around her body without thinking on it much.

"It's kinda hard to believe you're actually a celestial being" She spoke "So anyway, can you tell me more about the Shikon no Tama?"

"As you wish..." Sesshomaru said, then took a breath as he began to talk "The Shikon no Tama is the crystallized soul of a powerful warrior priestess known as Midoriko who had died in battle from many demons who were merged together. The jewel also contains the sealed souls of those demons. I don't understand it myself, how it can grant wishes, but it does...And also, the battle is still waging within the jewel..."

"Wow..." Kagome breathed "And _I'm _the key to finding something like that?" she paused "Wait a second, Sesshomaru, you told Naraku that you knew where the Shikon no Tama is."

"A simple lie. He fell for it easily"

"Oh..."

The way was silent. They hadn't walked very far from where the castle was before, but the hill where it had laid was getting further. The snow glistened blue in the moonlight, it was so early, probably one or two in the morning, Kagome yawned and stretched out her muscles.

"Well, are we going to camp or walk all the way there? Or...do we have some other way to travel? Rin, Souta, Kikyo...they're probably so worried about me"

"I suppose we can rest here,"

A freezing winter wind blew by and Kagome clutched the haori tighter around her and shivered.

Suddenly, all was silent...then, the silence was then broken by a shout.

"DANCE OF BLADES!"

Kagome was the first to see what was happening. She saw the wind sorceress...Kagura as she remembered...No sooner, she had realized what she had just done and where the attack was going.

**"SESSHOMARU, LOOK OUT!"**

* * *

_**Sorry for stopping at a cliffhanger, but I'm gonna read Sherlock Holmes, and I promise my friend I'd read it with her, and I need to go or else she'll get impatient.  
**_

_**When I'm ready, I'll update. I've caught up on most of my homework so I hope there won't be a wait that long for a longtime...**_

_**So yeah, I hope there wasn't a plothole, cause I have a feeling telling me that there is. But maybe I'll fix it if I find it later...Oh, and I suck at fight scenes...sorry!**_

_**Bye-Bye!**_

_**-Peter Pan-chan**_


End file.
